GG award: Beverly Jacobs of Six Nations GG to award 6 Canadians for contribution to women's issues Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 OTTAWA - Six people from across Canada are to be honoured Friday with the 2008 Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case for making outstanding contributions to the advancement of women. This year's recipients include Maureen McTeer of Ottawa, who has worked extensively on women's rights and reproductive health as a lawyer and author. The wife of former prime minister Joe Clark stirred controversy in the 1970s when she kept her own surname instead of taking her husband's. Beverley Jacobs of Oshweken, Ont., will be honoured for her commitment to women's issues among minorities. Jacobs is an aboriginal rights activist and president of the Native Women's Association of Canada. Shelagh Day of Vancouver is to be recognized for founding the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, an organization dedicated to upholding women's equality before the law. An award is also being given to Mair Verthuy of Montreal, who co-founded Concordia University's Simone de Beauvoir Institute, home to the first women's studies program in Canada. Social activist France Ennis of St. John's, N.L., is also being recognized with an award and a special youth award is being given to Benjamin Barry, of Ottawa, who founded a modelling agency that has become internationally acclaimed for promoting a healthy body image among his clients. The awards will be presented by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean at her official residence, Rideau Hall. The awards were first commissioned in 1979 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Persons Case, a landmark court decision that officially recognized women as persons in Canada and entitled them to sit in the Senate. © Canwest News Service 2008 http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c07446ca-2ae3-47a6-a5a8-e2e3fc643205