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CCCA_V3No4_Profiles-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_Profile-FIN.qxd 11/24/09 1:09 PM Page 17 Profile G ail Asper plays a lot of roles. Revenue Agency and the Standing Committee on Finance to change There’s the role of director and, until recently, corpo- tax laws regarding gifts of appreciated shares to private foundations. With all these roles, it’s surprising that Asper, 49, has time to rate secretary for Canwest Global Communications Corp.,Canada's largest media company;its subsidiary,Canwest Media breathe,let alone,for example,learn lines and blocking and tread the Inc.,filed for creditor protection this past October and is currently in boards of the MTC’s stage as one of the title characters in a female the process of restructuring. version of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple.But that’s just what she did There’s the role of president of the Winnipeg-based Asper this past May, surrendering to her love of theatre for a mere two Foundation, which undertakes and develops major initiatives in the evenings. “They cast me as Florence, the neurotic, control-freak areas of culture, education, community development and human one,” she says of her role, part of a joint venture between the MTC rights, locally, nationally, and internationally. and the Manitoba Bar Association in support of the MTC.“I real- There’s her related role as national campaign chair for Friends of ly thought I’d be Olive, the sloppy one.” the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR). Asper has Hardly.Sloppiness doesn’t tend to lead to seats on too many boards spearheaded efforts to raise close to $300-million from various to mention, involvement in dozens of charitable and community sources, including three levels of government, for the museum, organizations, plus a slew of awards for community involvement and which is scheduled to open in Winnipeg in 2012 as Canada’s first contributions, most recently the Jane Jacobs Lifetime Achievement national museum outside the National Capital Region. Award and,this year,the Canadian BarAssociation’s President’sAward There’s her supporting role as a member of one of Canada’s most for outstanding contribution to the public life of Canada. prominent business and philan- These days, Asper’s days are blocked out, not according to stage thropic families.She’s directions,but by the CMHR.Any given week is given over to trav- also the only daugh- el, meeting with federal and provincial members of Parliament and ter of the late Israel potential donors, museum events, speeches, reviewing press releases, “Izzy” Asper, the charis- and the like. matic entrepreneur and phi- The museum had its beginning in a human-rights and Holocaust lanthropist who founded Canwest education program — a brainchild of Izzy’s — run by the Asper and The Asper Foundation. Asper — Foundation.After years of bringing Grade 9 students to the United along with her mother, Barbara, and brothers David and Leonard, States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington,Asper realized currently president and CEO of Canwest — is charged with the that Canadians lacked a similar place to learn about their own complicated task of preserving her father’s legacy while creating her human-rights history: the Famous Five,Africville, the expulsion of own. Not to mention the task of training up the next generation of the Acadians, Louis Riel.“Why is it that we can take Canadian kids Aspers: with her husband, Dr. Michael Paterson,Asper has commit- to see the Declaration of Independence but that the Charter isn’t on ted to imparting to her teenaged sons,Stephen and Jonathan,the val- display anywhere in Canada? Why do Canadian kids know about ues of community involvement and charitable giving,summed up by Rosa Parks but notViola Desmond [anAfro-Canadian woman who, the Hebrew phrase tikkun olam: taking action to repair the world. in 1946, refused to sit in the blacks-only section of a new Glasgow, Then there’s Asper’s role — like her dad — as ardent supporter N.S., theatre]? And my dad said,‘Well, let’s build that place.’” ofWinnipeg and Manitoba,and for arts and culture in the province. If the idea was her father’s,it’s fair to sayAsper has made it her own. Asper is a past president of the United Way of Winnipeg’s board of “As a law student in 1982, I was very moved when the Charter was directors, has served on the board for Business for the Arts, is a created.” Her involvement, as both a member and a donor, in LEAF, founding member of Manitoba’s Arts Stabilization program,and has the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, further entrenched been involved with the ManitobaTheatre Centre (MTC) since age her commitment to human-rights education in Canada.“We’re com- 30, when she was invited to sit on its board. She became its presi- placent here,” she says.“We take our rights for granted.” dent before turning 40, and chaired the theatre’s $16-million cam- When the museum is up and running under its own steam — paign — an undertaking,she says,“that got me used to fundraising.” what next? Six years after Izzy Asper’s death, says his daughter, Asper’s role as a lawyer — she received her law degree from the “we’ve been weaned off the question: ‘What would Dad have University of Manitoba and practised corporate and commercial law in done?’We can think about what he would have liked, but the real Halifax before joining Canwest as general counsel in 1989 — has been question will be:‘What are the needs, now, for our community?’” instrumental in terms of her charitable work, she says, particularly her Whatever those needs are,it’s a fairly safe bet that Gail Asper will awareness of corporate secretarial and governance issues and “a strong find a key role to play in finding ways to ensure they are met. understanding of the Tax Act.” Not surprisingly, her legal work had a philanthropic focus:she spent years lobbying and working with Canada Susan Goldberg is a freelance writer based inThunder Bay. HIVER 2009 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association 17