Marilou McPhedran, photo by Austin Grabish
WINNIPEG, MB –The University of Winnipeg community proudly congratulates Marilou McPhedran, Director of the Institute for International Women’s Rights, Global College, on her appointment to Canada’s Senate. She was selected under a new arm’s-length process that saw more than 2,700 Canadians apply to fill the 21 vacancies in the Upper House.
McPhedran, a human rights lawyer, has served UWinnipeg with distinction since 2008, and as Principal of Global College, helped shape and launch the Bachelor of Arts in Human Rights, an undergraduate degree unique in Western Canada with a focus on social justice and global citizenship. McPhedran has led numerous UWinnipeg student groups on tours of the United Nations in New York City.
UWinnipeg also offers sincere congratulations to Patricia Bovey, appointed to the Senate today. Bovey has been associated with UWinnipeg for almost 40 years and helped start UWinnipeg’s art history program. As well, Dr. Harvey Chochinov, palliative care specialist who was also appointed to Senate today, is a graduate of UWinnipeg. He obtained a BA in English (1993).
“Marilou is an innovative and collaborative educator who has dedicated her herself to public service. She created popular, hands-on courses in partnership with other organizations including the Canadian Museum for Human Rights,” said Dr. Annette Trimbee, President and Vice-Chancellor. “Her deep knowledge of current human rights issues in Canada and abroad, and in particular women and the law, will serve Canadians well. Pat is a respected champion for art and culture who has strengthened the arts for more than four decades in our province and across borders.”
McPhedran attended UWinnipeg, and in 1971, served as the first woman president of the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association. In 2012 she was seconded to the Geneva office of the United Nations Population Fund as senior human rights specialist and taught in the Masters program at the UN affiliated University for Peace in Costa Rica.
She served on the boards of the Institute for International Women’s Rights – Manitoba, and of the Legal Help Centre, both of which she co-founded. She describes her work as “evidence-based advocacy” for achieving “lived rights”. She recently chaired the Minister’s Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Patients in Ontario.
McPhedran has received numerous awards – in 1985 she was named to the Order of Canada for her contributions to strengthening the equality provisions in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; in 1992 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by The University of Winnipeg and in 2012 she received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. The University of Winnipeg also presented McPhedran with the Marsha Hanen Award for Excellence in Creating Community Awareness in 2016.
Pat Bovey
UWinnipeg offers sincere congratulations to Patricia Bovey, also appointed to the Senate today. In the 1970s, she helped start UWinnipeg’s art history program with Ferdinand Eckhart and Henry Duckworth. She was instrumental in 2010 in researching and helping found the Curatorial Practices stream of the Cultural Studies Master of Arts program in 2011. She has shared her deep knowledge of art history as recently as this summer as a teacher in the program and is an Adjunct Professor in the History department.
MEDIA CONTACT
Diane Poulin, Senior Communications Specialist, The University of Winnipeg
P: 204.988.7135, E: d.poulin@uwinnipeg.ca
