Conference Speakers
The Very Reverend, The Honourable Lois Wilson
Ecumenist in Residence, The Toronto School of Theology
The Very Reverend, The Honourable Dr Lois Wilson, C.C., O.Ont. B.A. (Manitoba); B.D., M.Div., D.D. (Winnipeg) D.D. (Mt. Allison), D.D. (Queen's Theological, D.C.L., (Acadia), D.D. (United Theological), D.D. (Wycliff), D.D. (Victoria U.), LL.D. (Dalhousie), LLD. (Manitoba), LL.D. (Trent), LL.D. (UToronto), D.Hum.L. (Mt. St. Vincent), S.D.T. (Ripon), Fellow Massey College.
Ordained a United Church minister in 1965, Dr. Wilson shared team congregational ministry for fifteen years with her husband Rev. Dr. Roy Wilson, before becoming the first woman Moderator of the United Church of Canada. As President of both the Canadian and World Council of Churches, Dr. Wilson visited partner churches in Asia, Latin America, India and Africa as well as being a leading advocate of inter-faith encounters within Canada. She monitored elections in El Salvador, Mexico, Chile, Sri Lanka and Guatemala, and developed a grass roots knowledge of the challenges facing the developing world. She became a leading advocate of international human rights, a Board member on The Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security, the Chair of the Board of Rights and Democracy, and served as Officer with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. She has authored seven books, and served as Chancellor of Lakehead University
She served a four year appointment as a Member of the Refugee Status Advisory Committee, and an eight year appointment as a Panel Member of the Environmental Assessment Review Board for the Disposal of Nulcear Waste in Canada.
As Independent Senator in Canada in 1998. she was Canada's Special Envoy to the Sudan, led Government delegations to China and to North Korea, co- founded the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, and co-chaired the Canadian Committee on Women, Peace and Security for the UN, which brought together NGO’s, Government and Parliamentarians around Resolution 1325 for gender equality.
Dr. Wilson was awarded the World Federalist Peace Prize and U.N. (Canada) Pearson Peace Medal. Currently she is the Ecumenist in Residence at The Toronto School of Theology, Chair of the Canada-DPR Korea Association a member of the Public Review Board of the CAW, a Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, an Advisory Board member of Mining Watch (Canada), and Acting President of the World Federalist Movement, a position she assumed in 2004 after the death of WFM President Sir Peter Ustinov.
Dr Wilson is the mother of four and grandmother of 12.