Recognition of Susan’s Leadership
On February 11, 2026, Susan Tanner, Vice Chair of the Group of 78, was celebrated as the founding Chair of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), a non-profit advocacy group working for gender equality through litigation, law reform and public education.
She accepted this well-deserved honour at an event on Parliament Hill hosted by Senator Marylou McPhedran. Susan recalled the importance in the late 1970s and early 1980s of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Constitution, “an amazing unacknowledged group of 2,000 women who converged on Ottawa to lobby mostly male politicians to make our new Charter of Rights and Freedoms the best in the world and to include the equality of men and women in the body of the Constitution.”
“Without these laws,” noted Susan, “we would have much less legal success in promoting equality for women and all historically disadvantaged groups in Canada. And we will continue this work, despite the many difficult situations in which we all find ourselves in these crazy times.”
Background on LEAF
LEAF seeks “to advance gender equality by challenging laws, policies, and practices that discriminate against equality guarantees enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, most notably sections 15 and 28.” Since its inception, LEAF has intervened in over 100 cases.”
“Our cases have resulted in landmark victories preventing violence against women and gender diverse people, eliminating discrimination in the workplace, allowing access to reproductive freedoms, and providing better maternity benefits, better spousal support, and the right to pay equity. Charter rights, in general, and section 15, in particular, have been tested, and strengthened, through the advocacy work of LEAF.”