Human Rights Toolkit > Be Inspired: Canadians Human Rights Defenders

Rosemary Brown, the first Black woman to be elected to political office in Canada and the former Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Jules Deschênes, a renowned expert in international law, who chaired the Canadian Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, and served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Mary Two-Axe Earley, member of the Mohawk nation, who dedicated her life to ending discrimination in federal law that deprived aboriginal women of their Indian status if they married non-aborginal men; the gender discrimination in the Indian Act was finally removed with Bill C-31 in 1985.

The Famous Five: Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Muir Edwards, who joined together in 1927 and challenged the Supreme Court of Canada to amend the British North America Act to include women as "persons" under the law, thus recognizing the equal rights of women.

John Peters Humphrey, a professor of law from McGill University and the author of the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Wilson Head, a civil rights activist who founded the Urban Alliance on Race Relations dedicated to fighting for equality of all ethno-racial groups.

Lester B. Pearson, former Prime Minister of Canada and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for introducing peacekeeping as a part of the United Nations activities; Mr. Pearson was actively involved in procuring several peace agreements during his career with the United Nations.

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Consider a few of the human rights activists from around the world who have struggled to defend human rights in their own countries and within the international arena.

Mahatma Gandhi, who led a nonviolent resistance to British rule that eventually won independence for India, and whose peaceful philosophy has been an inspiration to many human rights movements around the world.

Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist in the United States, whose non-violent approach to social change continues to inspire anti-racism movements around the world.

Nelson Mandela, president of South Africa, who was held in prison for 26 years for his participation in anti-apartheid movements.

Aung San Suu Kyi, a political activist from Myanmar (Burma), who was placed under house arrest after her political party, the National League for Democracy in Myanmar, won an election against the military government; she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her efforts to bring democracy to her country.

Mother Teresa, who embodied love and compassion for humanity through her missionary work in the poorest areas of Calcutta, India.

Rigoberta Menchu Tum, a Mayan-Quiche indigenous rights activist, who initiated the first two Summits of Indigenous Leaders and helped to prompt the UN to declare 1994-2004 the International Decade of the Indigenous Peoples of the World.

Jody Williams, President of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the 1997 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer from Nigeria, who was executed by the government of Nigeria for trying to defend the rights of the indigenous Ogoni people.