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 Marilou McPhedran, Founder of IWRP. C.M., B.A., LL.B.,
LL.M. (LL.D. HONORIS CAUSA). Marilou McPhedran has applied extensive
experience and interdisciplinary skills in law, organizational
development, grants management, fundraising and social science
methodology, to strengthen and promote women's legal rights as a primary
means of enhancing opportunities for women to participate in the
economic, social and political dimensions of society, particularly
during times of reform and reconstruction. Ancillary skills include
designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation systems for social
justice programs at the international, national and local levels. As the
founder of IWRP, she provided leadership to women's rights and
governance programs related to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Bahamas,
Nepal, Pakistan, Swaziland and Ukraine. As a founder of the Canadian
Coalition for Afghan Women (during the Taliban regime) she designed and
managed a mentorship program with an intergenerational governance and
leadership training program, which became the springboard for Afghan
Canadian women returning to Afghanistan to assist in reconstruction
after the fall of the Taliban. Marilou provided strategic counsel to the
Canadian Council of Muslim Women resisting the use of sharia law in
family law matters in Ontario. She has focused on mechanisms for
empowerment of women through drafting and developing implementation
strategies predicated on women's equality principles as essential
components to the modern rule of law, including public legal education
and constitutional test case litigation. She developed initiatives for
gender based analysis and training to improve law enforcement capacity
to address violence against women, including sexual abuse by persons in
authority. She was awarded the Order of Canada for her leadership on the
Ad Hoc Committee on Women and the Constitution, the event that changed
Canadian history by including equality in the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. She was the Conference Chair of the celebration of this event,
25 years later, in February 2006 in Ottawa.
In January 2007 Marilou became the Ariel F. Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
In November 2007 she was appointed as the Chief Commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission.
With thanks: original site created by Kelly Mannix. Maintained and updated by Nina Cherington.
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