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Isabel Macdonald Bassett

trailblazer in the corridors of power

YWCA Toronto women of distinction award 2006
leadership in public life

Isabel Bassett is a leader committed to doing the right thing, not only in the limelight of the public eye, but also when no one is looking. Ms. Bassett’s contribution to women’s leadership in public life spans the roles of teacher, author, journalist, cabinet minister, broadcaster, philanthropist and volunteer. At every turn, she has used her influence to open the corridors of power to those without status or connections.

During her tenure as the first woman chair of Ryerson University’s Board of Governors, she spearheaded the establishment of an employment equity policy. As President of the Canadian Club, she initiated a change in the shape and colour of the Establishment by opening membership to women and visible minorities. A former Progressive Conservative MPP, Ms. Bassett’s achievements win accolades from across the political spectrum. Isabel Bassett is the 2006 Woman of Distinction for Leadership in Public Life.

Ms. Bassett began her public service as a high school English teacher in Toronto and Jamaica.  Following this, her ambition to write led her to journalism. She returned to University and earned her Masters degree writing about Canadian women in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  Her thesis was later published in 1975 as The Parlour Rebellion: Profiles of the Struggle for Women’s Rights.

This book was followed by another, ten years later. In 1985, The Bassett Report: Career Success and Canadian Women provided enduring insights into workplace values that needed to change; it quickly became a valued resource for women facing discrimination.

Stretching to a new medium, Ms. Bassett became a broadcast journalist and brought issues of social and political importance to Hourlong, a television program she co-hosted for seven years.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s she pushed to produce hard-hitting and socially relevant documentaries on such issues as violence against women and depression with such pieces as No Place to Hide and Beyond the Blues, which earned Ms. Bassett the Canadian Mental Health Association National Media Award. Her other ground-breaking documentaries include No fixed Address, Growing Up, and Everybody’s Problem, an unflinching look at sexual harassment in the workplace.

After a successful career in broadcasting, Ms. Bassett entered politics and eventually became a cabinet minister, where she used her voice to support the survival of arts and culture.

As a philanthropist of vision, Ms. Bassett used her fundraising acumen to help establish the James Robertson Johnston Chair in Black Studies at Dalhousie University in her hometown of Halifax Nova Scotia.

In 1999, Ms. Bassett’s was appointed Chair and CEO of TVOntario, where she continued to empower and create opportunities for women and encourage diversity both in front of, and behind the camera. She is remembered fondly by all who had an opportunity to work with her there.

Ms. Bassett’s service to the community has included acting on the Board of Advisors for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, Director of Toronto Women in Film and Television and National Co-chair of The James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University.

Isabel Bassett is a woman of stature, acumen and unwavering poise in public leadership.

She has a B.A. from Queen’s University, an M.A. from York University and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University and York University.  Ms Bassett has three grown children, Avery, Sarah and Matthew.

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