The award-winning journalist and lawyer Karin Wells discusses her new book Women Who Woke Up the Law: Inside the Cases That Changed Women’s Rights in Canada (Second Story Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta.

Women Who Woke Up the Law: Inside the Cases That Changed Women’s Rights in Canada by Karin Wells (Second Story Press, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Women Who Woke Up the Law

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.  

Karin Wells joins me now. She’s just published a new book, Women Who Woke Up the Law: Inside the Cases That Changed Women’s Rights in Canada. In the book, you read some gripping stories about women integral to advancing rights in the country. Irene Florence Murdoch, Chantale Daigle, Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, are just some of the women in the book who faced injustice and sought remedy through the legal system. And what did the women in the book seek? Abortion rights, the right for half of matrimonial assets, whether a woman was a person, maternity leave benefits, are among just a few of the landmark decisions kicked off by women in this book. Unfortunately, for some the cases don’t go the way of those who initialised them, however a lot of them ended up cited in landmark decisions because the jurisprudence catches up. Karin, who joined me from Port Hope, Ontario nearly one month ago, also focuses on the future. She looks at the requirement and enforcement of Non-Disclosure Agreements, and the protracted dispute between Jan Wong and her former employer, the Globe and Mail, (which Jan writes about in her bestselling memoir Out of the Blue, which she appeared on the program with in 2012), as well as the Nygard situation, where thanks to NDA’s he managed to insulate himself, for a while at least. I’ll also get Karin to reflect on how we should not get so comfortable with rights we might have in our society, which are not always guaranteed, and which could be taken away with a change of government, like we’re seeing in the United States. Karin Wells is a lawyer and well-known for her work on CBC Radio. She’s one of the finest documentarians in the history of the public broadcaster. Her previous books include The Abortion Caravan: When Women Shut Down Government in the Battle for the Right to Choose, and More Than a Footnote: Canadian Women You Should Know. This new book, published by Second Story Press, is not just an important book, it makes for a terrific read, because Karin’s writing makes these stories come alive to great effect. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Karin Wells; Karin, good morning. 

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