Anne Swarbrick

Anne Swarbrick (born in Toronto, Ontario) is a former Canadian politician, public employee, labour representative and senior administrator of nonprofit organizations. She was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae.

Before entering public life, Swarbrick worked as an Immigration Counsellor and Adjudicator at the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission, as Regional Representative of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), as Special Projects Coordinator for Labour Community Services, and as Executive Assistant to the President of the Labour Council of Metropolitan Toronto and York Region, where her responsibilities included serving on the City of Toronto’s Economic Development Committee. Volunteer involvements included serving on the Boards of Directors of the Yellow Brick House (a shelter for battered women), Oxfam-Ontario, Amnesty International’s York Region chapter, and at the national and local level within the PSAC.

She first sought election to the Ontario legislature in the 1987 provincial election in the Greater Toronto Area riding of Markham, finishing third against Progressive Conservative Don Cousens and Liberal Gail Newall.

In the 1990 provincial election, she ran to succeed veteran NDP member Richard Johnston in the riding of Scarborough West. The NDP won an unexpected majority government in this election, and Swarbrick won a landslide victory in her riding. On October 1, 1990, she was named a minister without portfolio responsible for Women's Issues. Among the Rae government’s initiatives for gender equality, Swarbrick became the first woman to Chair the Cabinet Committee on Justice Policy, traditionally chaired by the Attorney General. Her accomplishments included gaining a 43% increase in provincial funding to address violence against women and, along with provincial Health Minister Evelyn Gigantes, co-leading a delegation to the Canadian Senate that assisted in preventing passage of the then federal government’s legislation to re-criminalize abortion in Canada.

Swarbrick became involved in controversy in 1991 when it was revealed that she had written a letter to the head of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons asking for suspension of the license of a physician who had been convicted on five counts of sexual assault of his patients. Her position in Cabinet was secured, however, following intervention by then interim leader of the Liberal Party, Robert Nixon, who expressed his view to the Ontario Legislature that, while it may not have been an appropriate action for a member of Cabinet, it was not one that should lead to her discharge.

Diagnosed with breast cancer during her fourth month in Cabinet, Swarbrick became the first Canadian public figure to be open about her battle in an effort to end the culture of silence about this then highly stigmatizing disease. As Swarbrick’s treatments of chemotherapy and radiation continued to take their toll, she eventually resigned her position on September 11,1991 in order to focus on her recovery.

Regaining her health, Swarbrick was again appointed to cabinet as Minister of Culture, Tourism and Recreation on February 3,1993. Overseeing a wide range of provincial Crown corporations, her initiatives included support for the Art Gallery of Ontario to bring the world famous Barnes Collection to Toronto. She also assisted in gaining provincial funding for Willow Breast Cancer Support Services. There are some reports that she considered resigning in protest against the Rae government's Social Contract legislation, but she did not actually do so.

The NDP were defeated in the 1995 provincial election, and Swarbrick lost her seat to Progressive Conservative Jim Brown by fewer than 2,000 votes. She has not sought a return to the provincial legislature since this time.

After her defeat, Swarbrick completed graduate studies and obtained her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Schulich School of Business, York University. She then served in a variety of leadership roles in the nonprofit sector, including Manager of Toronto Operations for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Executive Director of the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange, and President and CEO of the Toronto Community Foundation [http://www.tcf.ca] .

Other commuity service has included the Boards of Directors of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine and the Family Service Association of Toronto, the Toronto Board of Trade’s Task Force on the City of Toronto Act, and the Mayor’s Task Force on a Beautiful City. In 2000, she was awarded the Outstanding Public Contribution Award by Schulich School of Business. Currently, she is on the Board of Directors of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, the Advisory Board to the Schulich’s Nonprofit Management and Leadership Programme, and enrolled in the Directors’ Education Program of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Swarbrick is currently working in executive search with Janet Wright & Associates [http://www.jwasearch.com] which specializes in executive search for the nonprofit and public sectors.