Category Archives: Brantford news

January meeting: Zoom only!

Our Speaker for the January 28th General Meeting (Note: This Meeting is on Zoom) 

We are pleased and honoured to have CFUW Brantford member, Theresa McClenaghan, speak to us at the next General Meeting on January 28. Theresa’s topic for this meeting is the future of environmental laws in Canada. Theresa’s expertise in environmental law comes from more than 35 years of experience as a lawyer working in the field of environmental health and environmental safety, both in private practice and for the Canadian Environmental Law Association, where she is currently the Executive Director. Theresa has been senior policy advisor to the Ontario Minister of the Environment where she oversaw the passage of the Clean Water Act, and was responsible for implementation of several Walkerton Inquiry recommendations. She has represented clients at the Supreme Court of Canada, at the Federal Court of Appeal and Trial Division, at provincial courts and at tribunals, as well as at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, on topics such as pesticide by-laws, the Oncomouse Patent, environmental assessments and constitutional matters. At the 2025 Spring Convocation, Theresa was awarded an Honourary Doctorate of Laws from the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Toronto Metropolitan University. We look forward to hearing Theresa’s insights on the important topic of the future of environmental laws in Canada.

Book chat at lunch

We had a small group today because of the weather but that gave us time to discuss for great books at length. Natalie told  us about Kristin Hannah’s Magic Hour, an unputdownable novel by one of her favourite authors. Leslie inhaled Wally Lamb’s The River is Waiting, a novel recommended at an earlier gathering by Marsha. A heartbreaking and transformational story. Norah has embarked  on the worthy goal of reading Sue Grafton’s novels from the beginning, and so got A and B via inter-library  loan. She read excerpts to us to give us the flavour of how this series began. Very interesting! Marsha just finished Philip Pullman’s La Belle Savage, book one of his The Book of Dust trilogy and she thoroughly enjoyed being plunged into the origin story of Lyra and being immersed in the brave selflessness of Malcolm and Alice and their treacherous journey on La  Belle Savage. Even for those who don’t like fantasy, Pullman makes his worlds so real that you can’t help but love the stories.