Following the death of her father in 2003, Asper, her siblings, and the Asper Foundation adopted responsibility for development of the
Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which her father had only announced to the public months prior. At this time, then-Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien had already committed $100 million towards the project with Israel Asper. To go forward with developing the museum in 2004, Gail Asper formed an advisory council of such people as former Prime Ministers Chrétien and
Brian Mulroney,
Scotiabank CEO
Rick Waugh, actor
Ben Kingsley, and journalist
Michaëlle Jean (later the Governor General of Canada), among others.[2] On 26 August 2008, Asper was appointed to the
board of trustees of the CMHR by the
Stephen Harper government.[3][8]
In 2018, Asper, along with her family and husband Michael Paterson, announced that they would
match $1,000,000 of donations to IISD
Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA), an internationally unique
freshwater laboratory in
northwestern Ontario where Paterson worked as a research scientist.[12][13] Also that year,
Manitoba Opera created The Gail Asper Award to honour "exemplary leadership of those outstanding individuals who translate vision into reality and in doing so, make the world a better place."[14]
In 2021, Asper opposed a city initiative to limit vehicular traffic on Winnipeg's
Wellington Crescent in favour of pedestrians and cyclists, citing a personal enjoyment of car rides through the wealthy neighbourhood.[16][17]
Board memberships
Asper serves and has served on the boards of numerous corporate and
not-for-profit groups.[6]
From 1998 to 2008, she was a member of the board of
Great-West Lifeco, and its subsidiaries.
She co-chaired the $11-million endowment campaign of the
Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (RMTC), which followed a $6-million
capital campaign also co-chaired by Asper. She also served on the board and as President of the RMTC.
In 2002, she was the campaign chair for that year's Winnipeg United Way Campaign and was a President of the Board of Directors for the
United Way of Winnipeg.
In 2005, Asper joined the board of directors of the
National Arts Centre Foundation, being its chair from 2013 to 2017. Today (as of 2021[update]), she serves on its finance committee.
She served as chair of Winnipeg's
Combined Jewish Appeal campaign of Winnipeg for two years
For numerous years, she served on the board of directors of the
Jewish Federation of Winnipeg
From 2003 to 2015, she led the $150-million national capital campaign for the
Canadian Museum for Human Rights's private-sector campaign, and currently (as of 2021[update]) sits on the boards of the CMHR and the Friends of the CMHR.
^
abAsper, Gail (Spring 2019).
"Gail Asper". UM Today: The Magazine. Interviewed by
Barnard, David. Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Manitoba. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
^
ab"Gail Asper". Kelvin History. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
^"Gail Asper". Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. Archived from
the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
^
ab"Gail S. Asper". Canadian Law List. Toronto. Retrieved 5 June 2021.