From the cosmetics counter to the United Nations: Ruth Goba’s journey to social justice

Photo by Spencer Maurice

When Ruth Goba (BA 1996 WDW) reflects on her path to becoming one of Ontario’s leading voices for human rights, she starts with a decision that changed everything: to persist in finishing her education.

“I didn’t finish high school,” Goba says. “But I always knew I had more to learn, to do and give. U of T gave me a second chance – and I took it.”

That second chance came through the Millie Rotman Shime Academic Bridging Program at Woodsworth College. The program offers an opportunity for those who do not meet the academic requirements for admission to U of T to qualify for degree programs in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Enrolled in the program as a part-time student and with her sights initially set on becoming a veterinarian, Goba juggled her academic career with full-time work at the cosmetics counter at Shoppers Drug Mart. That stretched her undergraduate journey to six years. But somewhere between evening classes and full-time work, she found her calling.

“It was a social and cultural anthropology course,” she recalls. “We were talking about cultural relativism, and something just clicked. That was the first time I understood how power, systems and identity intersect.”

Her passion for justice was also personal. Born in Washington, D.C., to a British mother (who worked at U of T) and Sierra Leonean father, she spent part of her early childhood in Sierra Leone before moving to Canada with her mother.  As a young adult, she returned to Sierra Leone twice in the mid-1990s and witnessed the brutal civil war tearing through the country. “My family's history taught me early that human rights weren’t abstract concepts. They were urgent and deeply personal.”

After graduating from U of T with an Honours BA focusing on international relations and African studies, Goba focused her ambitions on law school in pursuit of a career in social justice. She enrolled at Osgoode Hall Law School where she ended up meeting her future husband – whose late mother’s family, in a twist of fate, had happened to establish the Woodsworth access program that first welcomed Goba back to school. “I had no idea when I met him!” she says.

Global perspective, local impact

After she graduated and couldn’t secure an articling position (the mandatory apprenticeship to become a lawyer), Goba landed a job in Delhi, India, with an international NGO involved in women’s access to property and inheritance. When her supervisor was tapped to become the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, more opportunities opened. Suddenly, Goba was helping write a groundbreaking global housing report, a project that sent her to Geneva and Nairobi and built her skills and confidence.

“I was terrified of public speaking,” she says. “So you can imagine that one of my first public speaking assignments was at the United Nations. It was intense,” she says.

The job was challenging, but deeply affirming, Goba says, especially seeing the impact of the work in real time. The job also counted toward Goba’s articling requirement. “So after not securing an articling position, I ended up with the best one I could have imagined.”

Back in Canada, she finished her articles at a legal aid clinic that focused on disability rights and later joined the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA), where she worked on housing and international human rights. In 2006, she was appointed to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, just as it was shifting from a gatekeeping role to one centred on systemic discrimination, public education and policy development.

 “We were building new policies around things like gender identity, creed and housing,” she says.

Speaking out on racial profiling

In 2015, Goba was appointed interim chief commissioner. On her first day on the job, she faced a major challenge: whether to speak out against suspected racial profiling by the Toronto Police Service. The issue was polarizing and the political pressure immense.

“Basically, the day my appointment came into effect was the day that the Toronto Police Services Board decided not to adopt a progressive policy on carding they had been working on with the community for about three years,” she says. “So I had to make a decision on that day about how I was going to handle it: stand back or say ‘no, this isn’t right.’”

Choosing the latter approach, she spent the following years deeply committed to combatting anti-Black racism. After her tenure at the Ontario Human Rights Commission, she joined the Human Rights Tribunal as an adjudicator and mediator before launching the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC). The organization was created after the African Canadian Legal Clinic was defunded, and it came at a critical time.

Building new institutions

“BLAC was an important voice at a critical time,” Goba explains. “Just after it opened, COVID-19 and George Floyd’s murder in the U.S. revealed the disparities Black Canadians were facing.”

Under her leadership, BLAC found its footing – financially and operationally. She guided the team through COVID and the effects of society’s reckoning with racism, all while focusing on the needs of Black communities.

“It was exhausting; I worked long hours,” she says. “But there was a tremendous demand for the advocacy work we were doing that couldn’t wait.”

Giving back

Today Goba is an independent mediator, investigator and a sought-after public speaker. In the fall of 2023, she delivered the convocation address to New College students.  

“My former Professor Dickson Eyoh (who encouraged me to go to law school), was acting principal at the time. He had followed my career over the years and approached me to speak to the graduating class. It was an honour,” she says. “I wanted to send the message that my story isn’t about perfection or prestige; it’s about persistence, moving out of your comfort zone and knowing the path ahead is often not linear.”