About the Honourable Yvonne Boyer, Senator

Senator Boyer is a member of the Métis Nation with her ancestral roots in the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Red River.

She started her professional life as a nurse and then transitioned to practice law to help remedy the injustices that Métis, First Nations and Inuit Peoples face in Canada. For over 27 years Senator Boyer has practiced the law and published widely on Indigenous health and the intersection with Aboriginal rights and treaty law.

She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Law Society of Saskatchewan and received her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan, and her Master of Laws and Doctor of Laws from the University of Ottawa. In 2013, she completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship with the Indigenous Peoples’ Health Research Centre at the University of Regina. She was a full professor and former Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Health and Wellness at Brandon University.

Along with managing her own law practice, prior to joining the Senate she was the Associate Director for the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics and a part time professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. Previously she was general counsel to the Native Women’s Association of Canada, legal advisor to the Canadian Nurses Protective Society, and an executive with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the National Aboriginal Health Organization.

She is also a former Canadian Human Rights Commissioner and an appointed Member of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, First Nations Appeal Tribunal. You can also find Senator Boyer as one of eight people from across Canada chosen to be a holographic narrator in the Turning Points for Humanity Gallery at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.

Senator Boyer has a long history of giving her time to non-profit organizations and the charity sector. For example, she has served on the boards of the Minwaashin Lodge Indigenous Women’s Support Centre, the Champlain Local Integrated Health Network and Save the Children Canada.

In 2018, her many contributions to the country, including her ongoing work, was recognized by Nipissing University with an Honorary Doctorate in Education.

Senator Boyer was appointed to the Senate on March 8, 2018, International Women’s Day. She resides in the Ottawa region with her husband Marv Fletcher and their two dogs and three cats. She is the mother of four children and has four grandchildren.

Affiliation: Independent Senators Group
Telephone: 613-943-3500
Email: Yvonne.Boyer@sen.parl.gc.ca
Staff: Veronica Carrozzi, Sky T. Losier