Michelle Douglas
You could argue—rather easily—that there was only one sane, trustworthy voice in the cacophonic shouting match that was the WE Charity scandal. It belonged to Michelle Douglas, the organization’s former board chair, who abruptly resigned after raising concerns (per her testimony) about the financial rationale for pandemic layoffs. There are better reasons to pay attention to Douglas than her injection of candour into a messy, complicated political brawl.
Honourably discharged during the military’s “LGBT Purge” in 1989 for being a lesbian, Douglas’s legal fight led to a reversal of the military policy. Her interventions have since supported landmark cases for the community.
She is a co-founder of the Rainbow Railroad and secured federal support for an upcoming LGBTQ2+ monument in Ottawa. Even if her name in 2020 is synonymous with lucid parliamentary Q&A, Douglas’s lifetime of advocacy has made an undeniable impact.
What will she do next?
Article from McLeans Magazine —Marie-Danielle Smith
https://www.macleans.ca/rankings/canadas-most-powerful-people-2021/