Dr. Amanda Dale is an international human rights activist, scholar and non-profit sector consultant. She began her work in the homeless women's shelters and drop-ins in Toronto. However, she is best known for her decade as the Executive Director of the Barbra Schlifer Clinic, Canada’s comprehensive gender-based violence legal, counselling and language interpretation clinic in Toronto. Under her leadership, the Clinic underwent a historic period of growth and influence, engaging in transformative policy change, legal challenges and service re-design. Previously, she was the Director of Advocacy and Communications at YWCA Toronto. Dr. Dale specializes in applying international human rights standards to national contexts, specializing in violence against women, access to justice and women's human rights. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, faculty at the Women's Human Rights Institute, and a recognized spokesperson and expert in the way law impacts marginalized people's lives and in women’s rights and violence against women.
Amanda has over 30 years of experience working in municipal, provincial, national, international, multicultural, urban, and remote contexts. Her leadership was pivotal to the Jane Doe Audit of Toronto Police sexual assault investigations, the successful restriction of the use of religious arbitration in the settlement of family law matters in Ontario, the development of a women’s shelter in the Arctic, and the success of projects in Ghana and Sudan that resulted in increased women’s political participation. During her leadership, the Barbra Schlifer Clinic took on an advanced role in direct access to justice service development, test case litigation, appellate work, and international human rights work. She identifies as Queer and has been out since the late 1970s. For three decades, Amanda has remained active in feminist movements, contributing to many organizations.