Human Rights A Day

Canadian lawyer, politician and broadcaster Judy LaMarsh is born in Chatham, Ontario. Judy Verlyn LaMarsh was born on December 20, 1924 in Chatham, Ontario and was brought up in Niagara Falls. Between 1943 and 1946 she joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corp and travelled from Halifax to Vancouver, obtaining the rank of sergeant. After the war LaMarsh earned her law degree from Osgoode Hall and joined her father’s law firm in Niagara Falls conducting criminal law. She won a seat in the House of Commons as a Liberal during a by-election in 1960 and when Lester Pearson became prime minister in 1963, LaMarsh became the second woman and the first Liberal woman to hold a federal cabinet post. As minister of National Health and Welfare, she began drafting Canada’s cherished Medicare system and the Canada Pension Plan came into being. Between 1965 and 1968 she became secretary of state during Canada’s centennial celebrations, and she established the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. In 1968, during the leadersh