Trudeau appoints Ontario’s first Indigenous member to the Senate
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has named Yvonne Boyer as an independent senator for Ontario, the province’s first Indigenous member of the upper house.
Boyer, who was born in Saskatchewan and is a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario, is a professor of law at the University of Ottawa and associate director of its Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics.
Boyer, who has ancestral roots in the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan and the Red River, lives in Merrickville, about 80 kilometres southwest of Ottawa.
Boyer received a law degree from University of Saskatchewan and earned a master’s degree and doctorates from the University of Ottawa.
Much of her career has focused on inequalities between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous people in accessing health-care services and how they are delivered.
Boyer is also a former Canadian Human Rights commissioner and an editor and author who has written extensively on how Canadian law has negatively affected the health of Aboriginal Peoples.
She also runs her own private law firm, Boyer Law Office, where she specializes in blending mainstream legal practices with Indigenous laws.
Trudeau said Parliament will benefit from Boyer’s knowledge and experience.
“She will be a great ambassador for Ontario, the Metis Nation, and all of Canada,” he said in a statement.