19 Facts About Marilou McPhedran

Marilou McPhedran was born on July 22,1951 and is a Canadian lawyer, human rights advocate and politician.

Since October 2016, McPhedran is a member of the Senate of Canada.

Marilou McPhedran was the Principal of the University of Winnipeg Global College in Manitoba, Canada between 2008 and 2012.

In 1985, Marilou McPhedran became the youngest lawyer to be named a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her co-leadership of the Ad Hoc Committee of Canadian Women on the Constitution.

In 2001, Marilou McPhedran was named one of Canada's 10 most influential women's rights activists by Homemaker's Magazine.

Marilou McPhedran graduated with a law degree from Osgoode Hall, York University and was called to the Bar of Ontario, Canada in 1978.

Marilou McPhedran's work has focused on the promotion of human rights through systemic reform in law, medicine, education and governance in Canada and internationally.

Between 1980 and 1982, Marilou McPhedran acted as legal counsel for the Ad Hoc Committee of Canadian Women on the Constitution.

From 1994 to 1996, Marilou McPhedran was Corporate Director of Health Partnerships and International Liaison at the Women's College Hospital in Toronto, where she negotiated the College's designation as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Women's Health in the Pan American region.

Between 1996 and 1997, Marilou McPhedran held the position of Strategic Counsel with the Friends of Women's College Hospital.

Marilou McPhedran was the Chief Commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and was the Ariel Sallows Chair in International Human Rights, University of Saskatchewan College of Law in 2007.

From 1994 to 1996, Marilou McPhedran was Corporate Director of Health Partnerships and International Liaison at the Women's College Hospital in Toronto, where she negotiated the College's designation as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Women's Health in the Pan American region.

Marilou McPhedran has held positions as a part-time member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, and as a consultant providing legal and strategic counsel on ethical conduct and systemic change to public and private sector clients.

Between 2001 and 2003 Marilou McPhedran held the position of Co-Director and Co-Investigator for the Centres of Excellence for Health's National Study of Rural, Remote and Northern Women in Canada.

In 2000, Marilou McPhedran was the Executive Coordinator of the National Network on Environments and Women's Health, based at York University, which facilitated a cyber research network that linked women's health and human rights.

Marilou McPhedran was the Chair of the Forum on Women's Activism in Constitutional Democratic Reform held in the Parliament Buildings of Canada in 2006; the Executive Coordinator of the Summit of Women Leaders of the Americas for Mental Health in Washington DC in 1996; and a Co-Chair of the International Multidisciplinary Teaching to Promote Women's Health Conference at the Women's College Hospital in Toronto in 1996.

On October 27,2016, Marilou McPhedran was named to the Senate of Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sit as an independent.

On October 18,2021, Marilou McPhedran left the ISG caucus to sit as a non-affiliated senator.

Marilou McPhedran had been facing possible expulsion from the group over insinuations Sarabjit Marwah had broken ethics rules, which turned out to be false; McPhredran left the group hours before the planned hearing.