Fonds 10-169 - Gwen Brodsky fonds

Gwen Brodsky is a lawyer, published law scholar, and recognized expert on equality rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms both in Canada and internationally. She was born in [add place and year] and obtained her L.L.B. in [year] from the University of Victoria, her L.L.M. in [year] from Harvard, and her PhD in [year] from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.
Over the course of her career, Brodsky gained expertise in equality rights cases by acting as counsel to cases in the Supreme Court of Canada, including Andrews, Gosselin, Gould, Keys, McIvor, Melorin, Moore, Mossop, Swain, Thibaudeau, and Vriend, as well as appearing before commissions and treaty bodies of the United Nations and the Americas. In addition, Brodsky held the position as the first Litigation Director of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). Her work has primarily focused on the connections between equality rights, social and economic rights, and Indigenous rights within a constitutional and human rights context. She has also served as counsel for the Yukon Status of Women Council in Gould, as counsel to Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE) and the “Equality Coalition” in Rosenberg, and as counsel to the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) in relation to the issue of murdered and missing Aboriginal women and girls at the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry in BC [dates] and at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights [dates]
During her participation with the Women’s Court of Canada [dates needed], Brodsky also worked together with other lawyers, academics, and litigators to rework Supreme Court of Canada equality judgements, such as that of Gosselin [other cases if needed]. Together, these women would revisit key equality-related decisions made by the Supreme Court of Canada, using equality-based arguments to rewrite these judgments, and exploring alternative outcomes. Through this process, and by creating new symbolic decisions, they challenged existing legal interpretations of equality cases and promoted a feminist perspective on equality. Brodsky also worked closely with other lawyers on human rights and equality cases, such as Martha Jackman, Shelagh Day, Rachel Cox, Claire Klassen, Mary Eberts, Nitya Iyer, Yvonne Peters, Karey Brooks, Melina Buckley, and Cynthia Peterson, among others.
Gwen Brodsky lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.