Arlene Perly Rae

Arlene Perly Rae has an Honorary BA in English and Philosophy followed by a Masters Degree in Drama from the University of Toronto. She was a long-time member of the Board and Executive Committee of the United Way of Greater Toronto and founded its Success by Six program.

She is currently a Director of the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown and on the board of the National Reading Campaign. She co-chaired the Winchester Project which created 30 housing units for women facing the dual challenges of poverty and mental health issues.

Arlene served for many years on the boards of Sistema, McClelland and Stewart, the Stratford Festival, World Literacy of Canada and was a steering committee member of the National Campaign Against Child Poverty.

As co-chair of the YWCA’s Elm Centre Capital Campaign, Arlene helped raise $15 million to create 300 permanent housing units for women and women-led families in Toronto, including 50 Indigenous families.

For many years, she was the Children’s Book Reviewer for the Toronto Star. She wrote the award-winning book Everybody’s Favourites: (Canadians Talk About Books That Changed Their Lives) and has also done some travel writing and commentary.

She adapted two operas—Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Stravinsky’s Petruschka—for the Royal Conservatory of Music, helping to introduce children to the orchestra.

While in New York, while her husband is the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations, she has served on the Board of the Women’s International Forum.

She is delighted to be joining the Board of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Foundation, based in Ottawa.

Arlene has been an advocate for – (in particular), children’s literacy, mental health support and human rights. She was Chief Judge and organizer of the Mr Christie Book Awards for over a decade, as well as a judge for The Commonwealth Book Prize and other book Awards.

She enjoys theatre, swimming, tennis, golf and grand-mothering.