Chris Morrissey (she/her)

Chris Morrissey was born in England in 1942 and immigrated to Canada with her family at age ten. In 1960, she entered the Franciscan Missionaries in Albany, New York. She embarked on a career teaching with posts in Malaysia, Brunei and the US. It was during this time that she became aware of her sexuality and eventually realized that she was a lesbian. She developed a relationship with Bridgit, a member of the same congregation.

Chris and Bridgit relocated to Santiago, Chile during the dictator Pinochet’s regime. There they lived in one of the shanty towns primarily working with women and participating in the community activities of the time, including protests.

When Pinochet was defeated in 1989, Chris and Bridget decided it was time to return to North America. However, they encountered a problem with immigration since they had different citizenships. This led to a court challenge alleging discrimination in Canada’s immigration policies. Chris and Bridgit, along with others, formed LEGIT to work on changing the law. During this time, they began to receive emails from LGBTQ people from around the world looking for information about how they could come to Canada.

In 2000, Chris, with lawyer Rob Hughes, formed the Rainbow Refugee Committee, now Rainbow Refugee. The organization has supported and sponsored numerous LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees. When Bridgit was diagnosed with dementia, Chris advocated to make hospital services, residential and hospice care more inclusive of LGBTQ+ people. In 2019, Chris was inducted into the Order of Canada.