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Awards: 2001 Circle of Honour Recipients

Fran Brown – Advocacy – 2001

As Fran began her career as a nurse, she became committed to advocating for better services and facilities for young people with disabilities. In the 1970s, she became a director of the Toronto-based Extend-a-Family organization, a community support program for families with children with disabilities.

Fran’s involvement resulted in the establishment of 22 new Extend-a-Family groups across Ontario. She and her family also began a life-long association with a young woman with a disability.

Fran has also been active with the Ontario Association of Children’s Mental Health Centres and the J.D. Griffin Adolescent Centre. While she was a director of People and Organizations in North Toronto, Fran was active in establishing the fully accessible, Anne Johnson Health Station.

In 1988, Fran became a trustee of Bloorview Children’s Hospital. Her vision helped to inspire the hospital’s merger with the Hugh MacMillan Rehabilitation Centre, which she viewed as beneficial to young people with disabilities. During her two-year term as chair of Bloorview MacMillan Children’s Centre, Fran was instrumental in obtaining SuperBuild funding from the Ontario government for a new facility, forging links with the University of Toronto for an academic affiliation and planning for a research institute that will focus on childhood disabilities–to be the first of its kind in North America.

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