The Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic was created in memory of Barbra Teena Schlifer, an idealistic young lawyer who was murdered in Toronto on the day of her call to the Bar of Ontario, April 11, 1980. She was returning home from celebrating this milestone, when she was brutally sexually assaulted and killed in the basement stairwell of her apartment building. Barbra’s death changed the lives of those who were close to her and they resolved to use her tragedy as a springboard for changing the world. Frances Rappaport and Patricia Ashby, who had once planned to be her law partners, decided to establish a clinic in Barbra’s honour. In September 1985, the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic opened its doors. The Clinic provides free counselling, legal assistance, and interpretation services to women survivors of violence, and receives referrals from countless community-based agencies, as well as medical, legal and justice professionals, and religious organizations.