Gail Asper

Gail Sheryl Asper (born 1960) is a Canadian heiress, philanthropist, and corporate lawyer. Daughter of the media magnate Izzy Asper, she serves as the president and a trustee of the Asper Foundation.

She is known for bringing to Winnipeg, Manitoba, the $351-million Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR)—the first national museum in Canada to be established outside of the capital region, and whose image now adorns Canada's $10 bill as of 2018. The Asper Foundation itself is the private charitable organization that spearheaded the establishment of the CMHR. On 26 August 2008, the Harper government appointed Asper to the board of trustees of the CMHR.

She was associated with the Liberal Party of Canada and the Manitoba Liberal Party.

Early life and family Gail Sheryl Asper was born on 28 May 1960 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to the entrepreneur and philanthropist Izzy Asper and Babs Asper. In 1974, a year after the Yom Kippur War, Gail visited Jerusalem and its Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, which she said had a great impact on her.

Asper attended Kelvin High School, She then attended the University of Manitoba, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981 and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1984. and subsequently practiced corporate and commercial law as an associate lawyer in Halifax with Goldberg & Thompson until 1989.

In 1989, she joined her father's firm, CanWest Global Communications Corp., as in-house counsel and later as corporate secretary. In 1990, she was called to the Manitoba bar. Also that year, Manitoba Opera created The Gail Asper Award to honour "exemplary leadership of those outstanding individuals who translate vision into reality and in doing so, make the world a better place."

The 2019 Canadian film Stand! credited Asper as an executive producer, marking her first credit on a motion picture.

In 2021, Asper opposed a city initiative to limit vehicular traffic on Winnipeg's Wellington Crescent in favour of pedestrians and cyclists, citing a personal enjoyment of car rides through the wealthy neighbourhood.

In 2026, she withdrew family funding to the CMHR, including a $50,000 donation to the CMHR on the grounds of protest against a display on The Nakba.

Board memberships Asper serves and has served on the boards of numerous corporate and not-for-profit groups. 2006 – received the Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year Award, from the Association of Fundraising Professionals 2007 – awarded the Order of Manitoba 2008 – made an Officer of the Order of Canada 2014 – received the Duff Roblin Award, from the University of Winnipeg 2019 – received the Visionary Leadership Award, from the Canadian Network for Arts and Learning 2021 – received the Manitoba 150 Women Trailblazer Award, from The Nellie McClung Foundation received the YMCA/YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Community Voluntarism received the Jane Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award, from the Canadian Urban Institute received the President's Award, from the Canadian Bar Association received the Bovey Award, from the Business for the Arts Queen's Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals received the Humanitarian of the Year Award, from the Canadian Red Cross Israel Bonds 66 Award made an Honorary Member of the Canadian Actors' Equity Association received the Jewish Federation of Manitoba's Max and Mollie Shore Memorial Award received the Peter Lougheed Award for Leadership in Public Policy received the Nellie Legacy Award, from the Nellie McClung Foundation received the Humanitarian Visionary Award, from the David Foster Foundation received the Outstanding Philanthropist Award, from the Association of Fundraising Professionals received honorary doctorates from the University of Manitoba, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Carleton University, and Mount Saint Vincent University