About
About Us
Envisioning a more equal and just BC
With substantive equality as one of our foundational values, we work to make our legal systems more accessible and responsive to those who have been marginalized, disadvantaged, or historically ignored.
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Our history Changing Tides: An Action Plan to Dismantle White Supremacy, Settler Supremacy, and Anti-Indigenous Racism at West Coast LEAF
We’re a passionate group of advocates working to make positive systemic change
Through litigation, legal reform, and public legal education, we dismantle gender-based discrimination and move toward gender justice in full collaboration with those most affected and most marginalized by overlapping systems of oppression (e.g., colonialism, patriarchy, racism, ableism, white supremacy, and capitalism).
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Our history
Since 1985, we’ve been striving for fulfillment of the equality principles in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in order to advance the rights of all disadvantaged and marginalized groups.
West Coast LEAF is governed by an elected Board of Directors, run by a dedicated staff, and supported by active and committed volunteers. Our staff, volunteers, members, alumni, and supporters include legal professionals, community organizers, social service providers, community groups, unions, and students.
Our office is located in Vancouver on traditional, ancestral, and unceded Coast Salish homelands, including the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. As an organization that includes many settlers, we take responsibility for learning and seeking long-term transformation in our relationships with Indigenous Peoples and land.
The West Coast LEAF team includes trusted legal voices, respected advocates, and passionate educators. We bring diverse lived experiences, interests, and professional backgrounds to our shared work to expose and challenge unjust and discriminatory policies and practices.
For nearly 40 years, we’ve worked to bring our vision of an equal and just society closer to reality through litigation, law reform, and public legal education in collaboration with communities most impacted.
Our vision of feminism is inclusive and intersectional. We recognize and celebrate differences and strive toward building an equal and just society for all women, Two-Spirit people, trans people of all genders, intersex people, gender non-conforming people, and/or non-binary people, and others including Indigenous peoples.