HONORARY DEGREE

A trailblazing force in Canada’s comedy scene for more than three decades, Lara Rae is an orator and an entertainer, a teacher and an advocate.

Beloved for her ability to leverage her enthusiasm to bring about change in society, Ms. Rae is well-respected for her willingness to give of herself with openness, humour and grace, and invigorating others to do the same.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Ms. Rae began her career as a comedian in the early 1980s while still a student at Toronto’s York University. Forming one-half of the successful comedy duo Al & George, Ms. Rae toured Canada, the US and the UK with their irreverent musical comedy shows before the pair broke up in 1990.

In the aftermath of the split, Ms. Rae wrote a play, How Do You Know When You’re Done?, which explored a fictionalized comedy duo’s breakup over creative differences. In the mid 1990s, Ms. Rae moved to Winnipeg, where she founded the Winnipeg Comedy Festival with Tom Anniko in 2002 and served as the festival’s Artistic Director for 18 years.

A longtime contributor, writer, columnist and producer on CBC radio and television, Rae has written for programs such as Blackfly, Big Sound, What a Week, Definitely Not the Opera and Monsoon House. She shares a Prix Roma screenwriting prize and is a three-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee and a Gemini Award nominee from her work as one of the co-developers of the hit television series Little Mosque on the Prairie which ran for six seasons and aired across the globe. She is the former theatre and opera reviewer for CBC Manitoba and has been reviewing books for over fifteen years with the Winnipeg Free Press.

Her autobiographical play, Dragonfly, which explores her “gender odyssey” and her journey as a transgender woman, won the 2020 Chris Johnson Award for Best Play by a Manitoba playwright and was nominated as Book of the Year at the Manitoba Book Awards. She was the first transgender woman to guest host the CBC flagship news program The Current.

In addition to her cultural and creative works, Ms. Rae has been a prominent community activist for social justice. In 2019, she founded Pantry, a local food project that provides home-cooked meals, winter clothing and other essentials to her neighbours in Winnipeg’s West Broadway area who are struggling with food and shelter insecurities. The success of Pantry is fueled by the same energy she has shared throughout her life to create community, embrace change, celebrate inclusion and inspire action, both in Manitoba and far beyond. Ms. Rae was named one of the Nellie McClung Foundation’s 150 Trailblazers for this work, and for her longstanding contribution to Winnipeg’s cultural communities.

Ms. Rae continues to write and perform comedy in Winnipeg and is an instructor at the University of Winnipeg’s Department of Women and Gender Studies.

The University of Manitoba is proud to award a Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, to Lara Rae in recognition of her trailblazing impact on Canada’s comedy scene, her dedication to the cultural and social life of Manitobans and her tireless advocacy for Winnipeg’s 2SLGBTQ+ community.