Senator Andreychuk earns lifetime achievement award
"I have no idea why!”
Saskatchewan Senator Raynell Andreychuk, modest to a fault, starts to laugh.
The recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the YWCA Regina Women of Distinction Awards has never desired recognition. The work — whether as a lawyer, judge, ambassador or Senator — has always been its own reward.
“I received a phone call,” she said. “Would I accept the award?”
She was overcome and pleased, especially because it comes from Regina and Saskatchewan, where everything began.
The briefest glance at her life’s work shows why she was chosen for the honour.
Senator Andreychuk began her career as a lawyer, where she quickly became an outspoken advocate for women’s rights.
She made “quite a few noises” about the need for family shelters for victims of abuse and the lack of a community support network for women.
Working in Moose Jaw she was elected to council to take on new challenges and in 1976 she was appointed a judge of the Saskatchewan Provincial Court, where she set up the province’s first family court.
“Before that, we didn’t have anything called a family court,” she said. “The system wasn’t set up to look at the family.”
If those who appointed her to the bench thought they would silence her, they were mistaken.
“Everyone should have some integrity about what they believe. The difference is how they do it,” she said.
“If you are on the bench you have a way of speaking. You have a way of bringing these concerns to the government.”
She proved that point when a young person appeared in her court — community supports that should have existed were absent.
“There was nothing in there for this child,” Senator Andreychuk recalled. “I simply said to the government, ‘I’m giving you until next week to show cause why you have not produced the resources that you’re obliged to produce.’“
Sure enough, the government came up with the resources.
“You use the levers you have,” Senator Andreychuk said. “It’s the same thing now, as a Senator.”
She grew adept at using those levers as a diplomat and Canadian representative at the United Nations.
“Trying to get a consensus in the United Nations on an issue is like trying to get a whole family to agree,” she said. “Everyone needs a bit of a face saver, everyone needs their opinion taken into account.”
But even as a diplomat, Senator Andreychuk was never afraid to speak bluntly.
She was barred from Russia by President Vladimir Putin after addressing the incursions into Ukraine; she is quick to note she also criticized the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 as well as governments in Venezuela and some African countries.
“It isn’t the first time that the government of the day, when I’ve addressed human rights issues, has been unhappy with me and has taken steps to curtail my capability of working,” she said.
Senator Andreychuk, who helped found the Senate Committee on Human Rights and who now chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, concedes people questioned why she agreed to sit in the Senate when she was appointed in 1993.
For her, it’s another lever — and a powerful one — to effect change.
“You can still pursue the issues that you think are important in your community and that the community tells you are important,” she said. “You have to have your own integrity as to why you’re here.”
“You follow your own integrity.”
Senator Andreychuk received the YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday, April 28, 2016.
“Senator Andreychuk has dedicated her life to issues of Justice, democracy, and human rights, and has done so on an international stage,” the 2016 Awards Program noted.
"She has advanced the cause of women and girls, in Canada and globally, both by example and by direct action."
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Senator Andreychuk earns lifetime achievement award
"I have no idea why!”
Saskatchewan Senator Raynell Andreychuk, modest to a fault, starts to laugh.
The recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the YWCA Regina Women of Distinction Awards has never desired recognition. The work — whether as a lawyer, judge, ambassador or Senator — has always been its own reward.
“I received a phone call,” she said. “Would I accept the award?”
She was overcome and pleased, especially because it comes from Regina and Saskatchewan, where everything began.
The briefest glance at her life’s work shows why she was chosen for the honour.
Senator Andreychuk began her career as a lawyer, where she quickly became an outspoken advocate for women’s rights.
She made “quite a few noises” about the need for family shelters for victims of abuse and the lack of a community support network for women.
Working in Moose Jaw she was elected to council to take on new challenges and in 1976 she was appointed a judge of the Saskatchewan Provincial Court, where she set up the province’s first family court.
“Before that, we didn’t have anything called a family court,” she said. “The system wasn’t set up to look at the family.”
If those who appointed her to the bench thought they would silence her, they were mistaken.
“Everyone should have some integrity about what they believe. The difference is how they do it,” she said.
“If you are on the bench you have a way of speaking. You have a way of bringing these concerns to the government.”
She proved that point when a young person appeared in her court — community supports that should have existed were absent.
“There was nothing in there for this child,” Senator Andreychuk recalled. “I simply said to the government, ‘I’m giving you until next week to show cause why you have not produced the resources that you’re obliged to produce.’“
Sure enough, the government came up with the resources.
“You use the levers you have,” Senator Andreychuk said. “It’s the same thing now, as a Senator.”
She grew adept at using those levers as a diplomat and Canadian representative at the United Nations.
“Trying to get a consensus in the United Nations on an issue is like trying to get a whole family to agree,” she said. “Everyone needs a bit of a face saver, everyone needs their opinion taken into account.”
But even as a diplomat, Senator Andreychuk was never afraid to speak bluntly.
She was barred from Russia by President Vladimir Putin after addressing the incursions into Ukraine; she is quick to note she also criticized the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 as well as governments in Venezuela and some African countries.
“It isn’t the first time that the government of the day, when I’ve addressed human rights issues, has been unhappy with me and has taken steps to curtail my capability of working,” she said.
Senator Andreychuk, who helped found the Senate Committee on Human Rights and who now chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, concedes people questioned why she agreed to sit in the Senate when she was appointed in 1993.
For her, it’s another lever — and a powerful one — to effect change.
“You can still pursue the issues that you think are important in your community and that the community tells you are important,” she said. “You have to have your own integrity as to why you’re here.”
“You follow your own integrity.”
Senator Andreychuk received the YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday, April 28, 2016.
“Senator Andreychuk has dedicated her life to issues of Justice, democracy, and human rights, and has done so on an international stage,” the 2016 Awards Program noted.
"She has advanced the cause of women and girls, in Canada and globally, both by example and by direct action."