Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond (born 1963 in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Muskeg Lake Cree Nation) is a Canadian lawyer, judge, and legislative advocate for children's rights. She was appointed in 2006 as British Columbia's first Representative for Children and Youth, an independent position reporting to the Legislative Assembly. She was re-appointed to a second 5-year term in 2011. Turpel-Lafond was earlier the first Treaty Indian to be appointed to the judicial bench of the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan. She was given leave to take the legislative position.

Time Magazine has twice bestowed honours upon Turpel-Lafond, naming her as one of the '100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow' in 1994, and in 1999 as one of the 'Top 20 Canadian Leaders for the 21st Century'.

Mary Ellen Turpel was the youngest of four girls born to an ethnic Scottish mother and Cree father in Niagara Falls, Ontario. She grew up in poverty, enduring harsh physical mistreatment, and lived with domestic violence and alcoholism in her home. Her upbringing was similar to that of many of the indigenous children she has since encountered through her work.

By age 16, she had entered Carleton University, Ottawa, gravitating from the study of math and science to politics, philosophy, and eventually the law. Turpel-Lafond holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University, a law degree from Osgoode Hall, a master’s degree in international law from the University of Cambridge, and a doctorate of law from Harvard Law School. She also studied the International Comparative Law of Human Rights at the University of Strasbourg.

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