Patricia Paradis served as Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Studies from 2010 until May 2022. During her twelve years at the Centre, Patricia spearheaded its U-School workshops, which teach grade 6 students about the Constitution. She also created the Centre’s Downtown Charter series (now the Online Charter series), oversaw the design of two new websites for the Centre (including this one), and organized countless academic conferences and symposia — most notably a pair of national conferences commemorating the thirtieth and fortieth anniversaries of the patriation of Canada’s Constitution.
Prior to joining the Centre in 2010, Patricia founded Paradis & Associates, a dispute resolution practice, where she worked in mediation and facilitation for 10 years. She has also served as the Chair or Board Director on several boards — notably as National Chair of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) from 1995-1999 — and she is currently National Chair of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) Dispute Resolution Section Executive, Past Chair of the CBA Constitutional and Human Rights Section Executive, and a Board Director with the Parkland Institute and the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre. She is a recipient of a Women in Law Leadership (WILL) Award (2018) for her work in the community as well as a LifeTime Achievement Award from LEAF (2010).
Patricia has also had a lengthy career as a human rights educator and advisor — she taught “Human Rights Law in Canada” as a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Law for 23 years and was nominated for three Excellence in Teaching Awards.
