Mary-Woo Sims

Mary-Woo Sims (沈明麗) is a Canadian politician and social justice activist. Best known as a former chief commissioner of the British Columbia Human Rights Commission, Sims was also a candidate for the New Democratic Party in the electoral district of Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam in the 2006 federal election.

Born in Hong Kong, Sims first came to Canada as an exchange student in 1970. She became a Canadian citizen in 1978.

A longtime community activist in Toronto, Sims was associated with a significant number of government and non-profit human rights agencies and commissions, including the Ontario Human Rights Commission's board of inquiry, the provincial pay equity tribunal, the Campaign for Equal Families and the Canadian Human Rights Commission. An out lesbian, she won the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto’s “Honouring our Heroes” Award in 1993, as well as awards from Gay Asians of Toronto and the Chinese Canadian National Council.

In 1997, Sims was named chief commissioner of the BC Human Rights Commission. Her tenure with the commission was controversial, most notably when the commission chose to defend a Jehovah's Witness who filed a complaint against an employer who forced him to help put up Christmas decorations in the office. In 2001, she was controversially fired from the position by Premier Gordon Campbell a year before the end of her appointed term.

Sims is currently a partner in Ardent Consulting, a firm that does human rights mediation, adjudication and education work for corporate and government clients in Canada. She is also a board member of Vancouver Co-op Radio, IAM Cares, the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund and Canadians for Equal Marriage.