Little Sister's manager is recognized by Simon Fraser University for her role in the legal battle.
By 2004, Janine Fuller had spent fourteen years at Little Sister's — years that included bombings, a decade-long legal battle through every level of the Canadian court system, a co-authored book documenting the fight, and countless hours as the public face of one of the most important censorship cases in the country's history. That June, Simon Fraser University recognized all of it with an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.).
Fuller's path to Little Sister's was unlikely. She had arrived in 1990 with a ten-page handwritten resume listing mostly artistic pursuits, and she'd come from Toronto, where she had already survived the firebombing of the Toronto Women's Bookstore. She took the manager's job just as the store's battle with Canada Customs was intensifying, and she stayed for twenty-five years.
She quickly became the store's spokesperson — the one in front of the cameras and microphones, organizing fundraisers, making sure the country knew what was being done to a small queer bookstore in Vancouver's West End. When the third bomb went off, some staff left. Janine stayed. When customs deployed delay after delay, Janine kept organizing.
The honorary degree placed that work where it belonged: not just activism or retail management, but a sustained legal and intellectual project that helped reshape Canadian law. Fuller also holds the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour.
For someone who arrived with a handwritten resume full of artistic endeavours, it was a remarkable trajectory — and a recognition that the freedom to read is worth building a life around.
