About
Presented by the Hart House Community Members Committee. Women were not always welcome in the House. We invite the entire Hart House community to celebrate 50 Years of Women’s inclusion and involvement at Hart House. Enjoy the company of fellow members of the House, hear recollections, and experience our lived history.
We are honoured to have Linda Silver Dranoff as our keynote speaker. As a student, Linda fought to bring about the inclusion of women at Hart House in 1972. She is an acclaimed lawyer, writer and activist. She was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2012 and the Order of Ontario in 2019. Her bio reveals her remarkable contributions to the evolution of Canada's and Ontario's political and social stage, and can be found below.
- Doors open at 5:30 pm
- Reception starts at 6:00 pm
- Speakers at 6:30 pm
Hors d’oeuvres, desserts, coffee, tea, cash bar.
Free Admission with registration.
Keynote Speaker
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Linda Silver Dranoff
Linda Silver Dranoff is a lawyer, writer and activist.
As a lawyer she appeared at every level of court including the Supreme Court of Canada in a precedent-setting 38-year career, helping countless individuals to navigate the legal system and achieve justice.
As a writer, she provided Canadians with access to accurate, understandable, and empowering legal information through her 25-year stint as a columnist (“Ask a Lawyer”) at Chatelaine, and as the author of Women in Canadian Law, Every Woman’s Guide to the Law, Every Canadian’s Guide to the Law. Most recently, she wrote a memoir and history of the second wave women’s movement, Fairly Equal: Lawyering the Feminist Revolution.
As an activist, she successfully pressed for family law and other social justice reforms. She spearheaded the campaign resulting in Ontario’s Family Law Act 1986, which provided for equal sharing of property accumulated by husband and wife during marriage, among other advances for women.
She was the founding chair of the Feminist Legal Analysis Section of the Ontario Bar Association (now a national group called the Women Lawyers Forum), a place for women lawyers to meet and work on systemic legal problems affecting women.
She has been honoured by the Law Society of Ontario with the Law Society Medal, by the Governor-General with the Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, by the Toronto Y.W.C.A. with its Award for Woman of Distinction in the Professions, by the Women’s Law Association with its President’s Award, by the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations with the Commitment to Equality Award, Distinguished Service Award, as well as the Family Law Award of Excellence. Her alma mater, University College at the University of Toronto, included her in its initial group of 100 Alumni of Influence since the founding of UC.
She was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2012 and the Order of Ontario in 2019. Her association with Hart House traces back to her first year as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, when Hart House was closed to women. Linda and a few other women picketed outside Hart House to protest exclusion from the significant debate between then Senator John F. Kennedy and then second year student Stephen Lewis. She will tell you about that today.
