Deborah Coyne is committed to building a better Canada. She has an extensive background in public service, law and public policy, teaching, writing, and campaigning. As a lawyer, university professor, constitutional activist, public servant, writer and mother of two children, her skills and hard work have placed her inside the great public debates of our times. She currently lives and works in Toronto.
Deborah has degrees in economics and history from Queen’s University, law from Osgoode Hall Law School, and international relations from Oxford University. She began her career as a lawyer, specializing in labour law and litigation. She spent two years teaching law at the University of Toronto and later worked on legal and policy matters in the areas of health, human rights, assistance to persons with disabilities, national business issues, constitutional reform, and refugee and immigration adjudication.
Deborah has been long involved in the political process in Canada, having worked in policy research for a major political party and as a policy advisor for a provincial premier. She has also been a candidate for various political offices.
From 1987 to 1992, Deborah was a leading figure in the constitutional debates around the Meech Lake Accord and the referendum on the Charlottetown Accord. In addition to mobilizing the engagement of individual Canadians in the process, she was a co-founder of the Canada for All Canadians Committee and the Canadian Coalition on the Constitution.