Fair Vote Canada congratulates Sylvia Bashevkin and Jean-Pierre Kingsley for their appointments to the Order of Canada.
Sylvia Beth Bashevkin, O.C.
Sylvia Bashevkin is one of Canada’s top scholars of gender and politics. Among the first to study the obstacles facing women in public life, she analyzed the consequences of women’s political participation and has worked to broaden opportunities for diverse people to engage in politics. (Bio from the Governor General of Canada’s website).
Bashevkin is a member of Fair Vote Canada’s Advisory Group. She spoke about increasing representation of women in politics at Fair Vote Canada’s 2012 AGM and was one of 500 academics who signed a letter by Peter Russell calling for proportional representation in 2015.
Jean-Pierre Kingsley, C.M.
Jean-Pierre Kingsley has been instrumental in shaping democracy. This former chief electoral officer of Canada helped modernize our voting system and strengthened the integrity of our electoral process. Internationally, he has worked with international bodies to promote democratic development and improve elections around the world. (Bio from the Governor General of Canada’s website).
Kingsley has been actively speaking for electoral reform since 2016. He testified to the federal electoral reform committee (ERRE) in 2016 in favour of proportional representation, was a guest speaker at Fair Vote Canada’s AGM, and supported our recent campaign for a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.