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History
Toni Ann Laidlaw (nee Johnston) was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1939. She earned a BA Honours in English and Psychology at the University of Calgary in 1967, followed in 1970 with a Masters of Education with a specialization in Counselling Psychology. Her PhD in Educational Psychology was granted in 1978 by the University of Alberta, her thesis titled: "Concepts of Femininity, 1890-1930: Reflections of Cultural Attitudes in Psychological Theories." In 1982 she became a registered psychologist in Nova Scotia.
In 1974 Toni Laidlaw was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Education at Dalhousie University, teaching in the area of educational psychology and offering one of Dalhousie's earliest classes in women's studies. She became an Assistant Professor in 1978 and an Associated Professor in 1980. In 1990 she was appointed Full Professor in Women's Studies. In 1997 she was appointed to the Division of Medical Education at the Faculty of Medicine, where she served as Program Director and Chair until her retirement in 2005.
In her final faculty position, Toni Laidlaw developed and implemented Dalhousie's medical communication skills curriculum. Her medical education research around communication skills teaching has been widely published, including studies on the needs assessment of communication skills at Dalhousie. She is the author, with C. Malmo and Associates, of Healing Voices: Feminist Approaches to Therapy with Women (1990), and with M. Conrad and D. Smyth, of No Place Like Home: Diaries and Letters of Nova Scotia Women, 1771-1938 (1988). She has also published articles on feminist therapy, family violence and incest, and sexual harrassment.