Supplied photo by Stuart Payne
Mayo Moran, a leader in advancing justice and equality on local and global levels, has been named the inaugural Irving and Rosalie Abella Chair in Justice and Equality at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law.
Moran, an expert in private and public law, has chaired committees and legislative reviews of profound national importance and advanced changes to the law. Among her many awards and honours, earlier this year, she was named an influential leader of U of T's Ludwik & Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize and received the Law Society Medal for significant contributions and dedication to the legal profession.
“In addition to her leadership as a university citizen, Mayo's contributions in the areas of justice and equality are truly remarkable. Her unwavering commitment and leadership on these issues have shaped our institutions, laws and society for the better,” said University Professor and Dean Jutta Brunnée, James Marshall Tory Dean’s Chair. "The Irving and Rosalie Abella Chair in Justice and Equality will enable her to continue her impactful work.”
At U of T, Moran became the first female dean of the law faculty from 2006 to 2014. As dean, she led law school engagement on gender and diversity in the legal profession, foreign trained professionals and access to justice for middle income earners. She developed a ground-breaking mental health program for students, in addition to leading a successful $53-million campaign for the new Jackman Law Building.
Following her role as dean, Moran was appointed the 15th Provost and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College at the University of Toronto. While in that role, Moran undertook a number of other leadership projects. She chaired the university’s Expert Panel on Sexual Violence Policies and Procedures. The panel’s report formed the basis for the creation of U of T’s Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment and the establishment of the Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Centre.
“I was asked to do this work because I had done work on sexual violence, consent and how you judge whether someone's guilty or not,” says Moran whose doctoral thesis at U of T’s Faculty of Law led to the publication of her first book, Rethinking the Reasonable Person (OUP).
“The creation of the Centre, where survivors and others could all go and get expert help was important. I've continued to work on these challenging issues, in various ways, including advising on the development of the policy.”
In collaboration with former U of T Vice-President & Provost, Cheryl Regehr, and other leaders at the university, Moran played a role in the development of Bill 132, the Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act (Supporting Survivors and Challenging Sexual Violence and Harassment), and, as one representative of the higher education sector, helped shape the legislation. This bill is now law.
“We have such amazing people [at U of T] who study every element of every issue. That expertise was important for the development of the plan on behalf of the province.”
Moran also played an important role in the residential schools process, serving as as Chair of the Residential Schools Oversight Committee, part of the nearly $6B Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement of which was led by former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, and dean emeritus of U of T’s Faculty of Law, Frank Iacobucci. Moran chaired the oversight committee, seeing to the resolution of more than 38,000 abuse claims by residential school survivors and awarding over $3B in individual compensation.
“Although there is so much more that needs to be done, no country has undertaken a reparative process as ambitious as what Canada began with the Settlement Agreement,” reflects Moran on 14 years she oversaw the tribunal process. “Without it, we wouldn't have had Truth and Reconciliation Commission which triggered so many other important things that continue to unfold.”
Moran later co-chaired the faculty’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Committee, Call to Action #28, to ensure students receive a robust education in Indigenous law, legal traditions and perspectives.
Provincially, Moran’s legal contributions also include the Second Legislative Review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).
“In many ways I was also learning from the community in that work," says Moran about designing meaningful consultation and change. "There was a lot of disappointment that the legislation hadn't yielded as much change [in its first five years] as advocates hoped that it would. Part of what I wanted to do was to go beyond being critical and focus on areas where I thought there were real opportunities for change that would make life better for people with disabilities.” Moran adds another legislative review is pending and that the hopes for a fully accessible Ontario by 2025 remain largely unrealized.
Moran also chaired a panel that advised the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General on potential “Anti-SLAPP” legislation. The result was the Protection of Public Participation Act, passed in 2015, which was designed to deter strategic lawsuits used to silence public critics through expensive legal battles.
“Groups that are pushing for positive change can be shut down very quickly by litigation. This protects the ability of people, who are without resources, to engage in public debate.”
Moran’s recent academic and policy work focuses on the role of law in redressing historic injustice, especially issues involving systemic and institutional abuse such as residential schools, eugenics and colonial violence. She is the co-founder of the Restitution Dialogues which addresses contemporary debates concerning the restitution of cultural belongings, such as those seized during the Holocaust and Indigenous belongings held in the Vatican Archives. Her work in this area includes advising the German government on how to improve its Holocaust restitution process. Her forthcoming book, The Problem of the Past and How to Fix It, brings together her strands of work on redressing historic wrongs.
“A lot of massive historical wrongs lay dormant for a very long time. The attitude used to be that ‘time heals all wounds,’ or ‘let sleeping dogs lie,’” says Moran.
“I think there's an increasing recognition now that if there is not an effort to make amends, old injuries may actually fester and grow, rather than heal. An important part of doing justice is paying attention to how to repair the harm caused by our wrongs, even if those wrongs occurred a long time ago. That is why there are now very active debates about how to repair and make amends for old wrongs, including injuries to the person like abuse, as well as wrongful takings," she says. "We can never fully fix the past but we can learn from what has gone before and do better each time.”
The chair honours Canadian historian Irving Abella (1940-2022) and retired Supreme Court of Canda justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, both U of T alumni.
“I'm a huge admirer of both Rosie and Itchie, as we call them,” Moran says. It’s incredibly meaningful and touching to hold the chair, named in their honour. For me, there could not be a better way to come back to the faculty that I love and to be what I call a ‘normal professor’ again.”
