Mary-Woo Sims
Mary-Woo Sims was born in Hong Kong and is a Canadian social justice activist, politician, and former chief commissioner of the British Columbia Human Rights Commission
Mary-Woo Sims was born in Hong Kong and is a Canadian social justice activist, politician, and former chief commissioner of the British Columbia Human Rights Commission, where she helped found a rape crisis centre and was awarded the Chinese Canadian National Council’s Chinese Canadian Pioneer Award. Sims has advocated for lesbian, gay and, same-sex spousal rights for many years, co-chairing the Campaign for Equal Families.
Mary participated in the BC Federation of Labour’s Women’s Rights Committee in the mid-1970s and helped write some of the early anti sexual harassment and affirmative action policies. In Toronto, Canada, Mary helped to develop leading and innovative policies and educational programs in human rights, employment equity and anti-harassment, and was co-chair of the Campaign for Equal Families that fought for an omnibus bill that would recognize gay and lesbian partnerships and families.
In her role as the chief human rights commissioner for British Columbia, she represented BC at the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies, and recommended expanding the Human Rights Code to include gender identity. She was also elected to sit on the board of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies (IOHRA) as its Canadian representative.
Mary now spends time between Australia and Canada, and is working on a book.