About

Florence Ashley is a transfeminine jurist and bioethicist based in the unceded Kanien’kehá:ka lands of Tiohtià:ke (also known as Montreal). They are currently an LL.M. candidate at McGill University Faculty of Law, specialising in bioethics. Their thesis, written under the supervision of Dean Robert Leckey, bears on the legality of conversion therapy targeting gender identity. Florence is a fellow of the McGill Research Group on Health and Law.

Florence held a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, Master’s Award in 2018-2019 and an O’Brien Fellowship at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism in 2017-2018. They were granted the Bourse Dorais-Ryan 2017 by the Conseil québécois LGBT, as well as the Start Proud Student Leadership Scholarship 2018.

Florence is a member of the Comité trans of the Conseil québécois LGBT and serves as chair of the advisory board of the Trans Legal Clinic. In 2018-2019 they were a member of a Commmittee on sexual orientation and gender vocabulary of the Office québécois de la langue française

Florence was awarded the 2018-2019 Canadian Bar Association's SOGIC Hero Award for their academic work, advocacy, and leadership in trans communities, becoming the youngest recipient of the award. They were also finalist for the Forces AVENIR Graduate Personality Award and were awarded a Scarlet Key by McGill University in 2019.

In 2019-2020, Florence will be the first openly trans clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, clerking for Justice Sheilah Martin. Their article “Don’t Be So Hateful: The Insufficiency of Anti-Discrimination and Hate Crime Laws in Improving Trans Wellbeing”, published in the University of Toronto Law Journal, inspired the first special issue on trans law in Canadian history. Their article “Gatekeeping Hormone Replacement Therapy for Transgender Patients is Dehumanising​​” was selected as Editor’s Choice by the Journal of Medical Ethics and featured in a National Post article. Florence’s work on trans conversion therapy has been cited by the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.

Their academic work has been published in the University of Toronto Law Journal, Service social, the Archive of Sexual Behavior, The American Journal of Bioethics, Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the Journal of Medical Ethics, the Dalhousie Law Journal, The Journal of Sexual Medicine, the Journal of LGBT Youth, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and the McGill Journal of Law and Health.

They frequently contribute to media conversations, having been interviewed by various media outlets, with publications in The Globe and Mail, CBC Opinions, the Montreal Gazette, Huffington Post, The Conversation, NOW Magazine, The Advocate, INTO More, Le Devoir, La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal, and Journal Métro.

Florence uses “gay/ghem” and "they/them” pronouns in English. In French, they use both “ille” and “elle”, with feminine grammatical gender. Florence can be reached on Facebook, Twitter, or at florence.pare at mail.mcgill.ca.

Past

Future

Florence graduated from the B.C.L./LL.B. program at the McGill University Faculty of Law in 2017, with a minor in philosophy. They were inducted in the Golden Key Honour Society for graduating in the top 15% of law students.

During law school, they served as Head French Editor of Contours – Voices of Women in Law, as Vice President –External of OutLaw, and as a member of the McGill Equity Subcommittee on Queer People.

​Florence was awarded the John W. Cook, K.C. Prize and Edwin Botsford Busteed Scholarship upon graduating from law school. They were also awarded the Students' Society of McGill University's Community Engagement Award 2016-2017.

In 2019-2020, Florence will clerk for Justice Sheilah Martin of the Supreme Court of Canada, the first known openly trans person to do so in North America.

After clerking at the Supreme Court, they intend to pursue a doctorate in law.

They are interested in continuing to study the legal landscape of trans conversion therapy, while also contributing to academic scholarship in trans law and bioethics.