Kim Pate was appointed to the Senate of Canada on November 10, 2016. First and foremost, the mother of Michael and Madison, she is also a nationally renowned advocate who has spent the last 40 years working in and around the legal and penal systems of Canada, with and on behalf of some of the most marginalized, victimized, criminalized and institutionalized — particularly imprisoned youth, men and women. Senator Pate graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1984 with honours in the Clinical Law Programme. She was the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) from January 1992 until her appointment to the Senate in November 2016. She has developed and taught Prison Law, Human Rights and Social Justice and Defending Battered Women on Trial courses at the Faculties of Law at the University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University and the University of Saskatchewan. She also occupied the Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law in 2014 and 2015.

Kim Pate is widely credited as the driving force behind the Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston, headed by Justice Louise Arbour. During the Inquiry, she supported women as they aired their experiences and was a critical resource and witness in the Inquiry itself.

Senator Pate is a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, the Canadian Bar Association’s Bertha Wilson Touchstone Award, and six honourary doctorates (Law Society of Upper Canada, University of Ottawa, Carleton University, St. Thomas University, Wilfred Laurier University, and Nipissing University).

Alicia Clifford is a white settler Ph.D. Candidate at McMaster University who stands in solidarity with Indigenous women forced to maneuver Canada's prison systems. Their research focuses on how the state targets Indigenous peoples via the criminal justice system to perpetuate settler colonial policies of assimilation. They work alongside the community using strengths and arts-based approaches to ensure Indigenous women's perspectives become a force for change. Over the years, they have worked on several international grants alongside Indigenous scholars that focus on Indigenous peoples' sovereignty and self-determination efforts in health, sport, research, and education. As a settler, they are responsible for moving beyond reconciliation and directly engaging in reconciliation by creating safe spaces that seek a diversity of Indigenous knowledges. In essence, they want their privilege to serve Indigenous Peoples targeted by the legal system because there is no justice system in Canada's settler colonial state, only a legal one.