Mary Anne Eberts (born January 18, 1947) is a Canadian constitutional lawyer and a former

University of Toronto Faculty of Law The University of Toronto Faculty of Law (U of T Law, UToronto Law) is the law school of the University of Toronto, located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. It is the top ranked common law facu ...

faculty member. She is a founding member of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)

Early life and education

Eberts was born in

St. Thomas, Ontario St. Thomas is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It gained its city charter on March 4, 1881. The city is also the seat for Elgin County, although it is independent of the county. At the time of the 2021 Census, the population of the city w ...

. Eberts was educated at

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

Career

Eberts taught law at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

(U of T) for six years before joining a

Bay Street Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District, Toronto, Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Economy of Canada, Canada's financial services indust ...

law firm where she became a partner. She eventually opened her own law practice in 1980, from where she appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada, Courts of Appeal, and Superior Courts in Ontario. She was influential in the creation of the ''

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...

'' Section 15. She published "''Equality Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''" in 1985. Eberts eventually returned to U of T as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

in 1987 to teach constitutional law. In 1991, Eberts became a litigation counsel to the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC). Eberts represented

Beth Symes Beth Symes, , Queen's University at Kingston, Queen's University alumna is a Canadian lawyer who fought the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA, formerly known as Revenue Canada) all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in an unsuccessful attempt to deduct ...

, another founding LEAF member, in ''Symes v. Canada'',

993 Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian (also known as the Sword of Essen) as ...

4 S.C.R. 695. Whereas all legal cases have adversaries by definition, legal scholars have argued that the ''language'' of opposition in the Symes case is revealing—that, although “these men spoke in the rhetoric of institutional constraints, class, and fairness”, their language “still reeks of strategy and self-interest.” In 1993, Eberts received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. She was subsequently elected a bencher of the

Law Society of Ontario The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; ) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LS ...

from 1995 until 1999. In 1996, she was a recipient of the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

in Commemoration of the

Persons Case ''Edwards v Canada (AG)'', also known as the ''Persons Case'' (), is a Canadian constitutional case that decided in 1929 that women were eligible to sit in the Senate of Canada. The legal case was put forward by the Government of Canada on the ...

. She was also a founding member of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). In 2001, Eberts represented survivors of the

Chinese head tax in Canada The Chinese head tax was a fixed fee charged to every Chinese person entering Canada. The head tax was first levied after the Canadian parliament passed the ''Chinese Immigration Act'' of 1885 and it was meant to discourage Chinese people from e ...

seeking compensation. In 2004, she was appointed the Gordon F. Henderson Chair in Human Rights at the University of Ottawa and later became the Ariel Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the

University of Saskatchewan College of Law The College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan is the university's law school. Located in Saskatoon in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the College of Law was established in 1912 and is the oldest law school in Western Canada, a dist ...

from 2011 until 2012. After her endowed chair term ended, Eberts joined Hensel Barristers as counsel. Two years later, she joined the faculty at

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

as a McMurty Fellow. In 2017, Eberts was elected an Officer of the Order of Canada.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eberts, Mary Living people People from St. Thomas, Ontario Officers of the Order of Canada Canadian lawyers Canadian women lawyers Lawyers in Ontario Academic staff of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law University of Western Ontario alumni Harvard Law School alumni 1947 births Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case winners