UBC Anthropology alumna Eloise Spitzer (BA ’63, LLB ’76), is being recognized with an honorary law degree from the University of Victoria on June 12, 2024.
Now retired, Spitzer has had a diverse career in private practice, consulting, public service, and the not-for-profit sector, has significant experience in criminal law, Indigenous and First Nations rights, and women’s equality. She is a co-founder of LEAF (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund) and successfully litigated Canada’s first Charter challenge.
Her work included significant contributions to women’s quality, environmental law, and Indigenous law, working for the David Suzuki Foundation, and for the Pauktuutit and the Inuit Taparisat of Canada during the Constitutional conferences.
She became the first woman Cabinet Secretary in British Columbia, before concluding her career at the University of Victoria, coordinating their Law Faculty’s Cooperative Education program.
Eloise has been deeply involved in legal aid, serving as the first student representative on the BC Legal Aid Society Board in 1974 and drafting the Legal Aid Act in Yukon in 1985.
