Gail Sheryl Asper

Background

Gail Sheryl Asper was born on May 28, 1960, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Israel Izzy Asper and Babs Asper. Her father was born in Minnedosa, Manitoba, in 1932 to parents who had emigrated from Eastern Europe, and he grew up in Winnipeg.

Izzy Asper earned a bachelor's degree in 1953 and a law degree in 1957 from the University of Manitoba, and he founded the Winnipeg law firm Asper, Freedman and Company in 1959. He later led the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1970 to 1975 and represented the Wolseley constituency in the provincial legislature. Her brothers, David Asper, born in 1958, and Leonard Asper, born in 1964, were also born in Winnipeg.

Education

She then studied at the University of Manitoba, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1981 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1984.

The University of Manitoba was established by the University of Manitoba Act on February 28, 1877, as a provincial university, and it became the first institution of higher education in Western Canada. Its early structure combined several church-affiliated colleges with a central university that set academic requirements and granted degrees. Asper's degrees therefore came from one of the region's oldest university traditions, the same institution from which her father had earned his law degree.

Career

Asper was called to the Bar of Nova Scotia in 1985 and practiced corporate and commercial law as an associate lawyer with Goldberg & Thompson in Halifax until 1989. Her move from Manitoba to Nova Scotia to work as a lawyer marked the start of her professional career outside her home province.

In 1989 she joined CanWest Global Communications Corp. in Winnipeg as corporate secretary and legal counsel. CanWest had been founded by Izzy Asper and was headquartered in Winnipeg; it grew into a diversified media conglomerate with broadcast, print, and online holdings, including the Global television network and the National Post. Asper served on the company's board of directors until 2010, the year its operations ended. She also sat on the board of Great-West Lifeco Inc. and its subsidiaries from 1998 to 2008.

From 2002 she served as managing director of The Asper Foundation, a private charitable foundation established by her parents, and in 2003, after her father's death, she became its president. She held that position until her retirement in 2023. The foundation supports projects in Canada and Israel, and its central undertaking was the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Izzy Asper publicly announced the museum in 2003 at The Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine rivers meet in Winnipeg. The museum was established in 2008 through an amendment to the Canadian Museums Act, becoming the first new national museum created in Canada since 1967 and the first national museum located outside the National Capital Region. It opened in Winnipeg in 2014. Asper spent 14 years working to establish the museum and served as national campaign chair for its $150 million private-sector campaign, which began in 2003. She was appointed to the museum's inaugural board in 2008.

Achievements

• Led the fundraising and development of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, serving as national campaign chair for the museum's $150 million private-sector campaign that began in 2003. The museum became the first national museum in Canada established outside the National Capital Region.

• Chaired the 2002 Winnipeg United Way Campaign, which raised a record $13.8 million.

Views

Asper believes in giving back to one's community and in trying to leave the world a better place than she found it, a principle she attributes to the example set by her parents. She also holds that the arts are important to building a creative, civil society.

Asper believes Canadians need to understand their past, including the Persons Case, the denial of voting rights to First Nations people in federal elections until 1960, and the wartime internment of Japanese Canadians. She feels, as her father did, that Canadians should also know their own human rights heroes.

Membership

Asper's legal membership began with her call to the Bar of Nova Scotia in 1985, the year she began practice in Halifax.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights was created to explore human rights with a special but not exclusive reference to Canada, to enhance public understanding of the subject, and to encourage reflection and dialogue. Asper served on its board until 2023 and continues as an honorary board member. The Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, established in 2003 by Asper as the museum's fundraising arm, has a board of directors on which she has served since 2011.

She joined the board of the National Arts Centre Foundation in 2005 and chaired it from 2013 to 2017. She also served as a board member and vice-chair of the Council for Business and the Arts in Canada.

Asper served as president of the board of directors of the United Way of Winnipeg and chaired the Winnipeg 2002 United Way Campaign, which raised a record $13.8 million. She has served on the board of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, chaired Winnipeg's Jewish Federation, sits on that federation's board of directors, and is a governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

• Called to the Bar of Nova Scotia

  Nova Scotia Barristers' Society , Canada

  1985

• Board member; continues as an honorary board member

  Canadian Museum for Human Rights , Canada

  2008 - 2023

• Director; past national campaign chair

  Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights , Canada

  July, 2011 - present

• Chair from 2013 to 2017

  National Arts Centre Foundation , Canada

  2005

• Board member and vice-chair

  Council for Business and the Arts in Canada , Canada

• President of the Board of Directors

  United Way of Winnipeg , Canada

• Board member

  Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre , Canada

• Former chair; board of directors member

  Jewish Federation of Winnipeg , Canada

• Governor

  Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Israel

Interests

• Arts advocacy and volunteer fundraising. Asper co-chaired a Manitoba Theatre Centre capital campaign that raised over $7 million and co-chaired the theatre's $10 million endowment campaign. She was also a founding member of Manitoba's Arts Stabilization program.

Connections

Asper married Michael Paterson in 1984. She is the daughter of Izzy and Babs Asper, who established The Asper Foundation together, and she is the sister of David Asper and Leonard Asper.

David Asper is a lawyer who has served as chair of the Winnipeg Police Board and of the Manitoba Police Commission. Leonard Asper served as president and chief executive of Canwest from 1999 through its bankruptcy in 2010, and he has served as vice-chairman of the Asper Foundation.

Father:

Israel Asper

Lawyer and media founder of Canwest who led the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1970 to 1975 and established the foundation that led to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Mother:

Babs Asper

Co-founder with Israel Asper of The Asper Foundation.

Brother:

David Asper

Lawyer who was acting dean of Robson Hall, the law faculty of the University of Manitoba, and later chair of the Winnipeg Police Board.

Brother:

Leonard Asper

Served as president and chief executive of Canwest from 1999 through its 2010 bankruptcy.

husband:

Michael Paterson

References

• Gail Asper Encyclopedia article summarizing Asper's birth, education, legal career, philanthropy, and leadership of the Asper Foundation and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
• Gail Asper, O.C., O.M., LL.D., Trustee Biography published by The Asper Foundation covering her education, legal career at Goldberg & Thompson and CanWest Global, and foundation roles.
• Gail Asper - Senate Carleton University Senate page describing her honorary Doctor of Laws and her work for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the National Arts Centre Foundation.
• Gail Asper, O.C., O.M., LL.D. Profile in the Nellie McClung Foundation's trailblazers series describing her role in establishing the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and her United Way campaign leadership.
• Rallying Point Canada's History article on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights that describes Asper's role as the driving force behind the museum project and its fundraising arm.