International Commission of Jurists Canada is proud to partner with the Human Rights Research and Education Centre (HRREC) to host a unique national and international conference, “Realizing Rights 2017: Human Rights and Constitutionalism,” to be held from June 8-10, 2017 at the University of Ottawa.

The Conference seeks to bring together, for the first time, the full range of practitioners, scholars, and advocates working on human rights across Canada and beyond, in order to discuss challenges and opportunities for the effective realization of human rights and related constitutional and governance arrangements. This major conference coincides with Canada’s 150th anniversary, which provides a special opportunity for celebration and reflection.

To organize it, HRREC and ICJC are working in partnership with: the Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies (CASHRA), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL), and the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on the Rights of the Child (LRIDE). The conference, featuring various parallel meetings, sessions, workshops, and social events of distinct character, will contribute in a significant way to the development and strengthening of the field of human rights professionals.

ICJC will be hosting a special session at the Conference to launch our book on the rule of law in 2017, and we will hold our annual members' meeting on June 7, the day before the Conference officially begins.

Registration is now open, and volunteer applications are being accepted.

We hope to see many ICJC members there!

On January 31, 2017, ICJC members, colleagues, Parliamentarians, lawyers, and other members of the community gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to recognize her Professor Jennifer Bond's achievements. She is the 2016 winner of the Walter S. Tarnopolsky Award. Following the Award Ceremony, in lieu of giving a traditional address, Independent Senator for Ontario Ratna Omidvar joined Professor Bond for an engaging discussion on "Responding to the Refugee Crisis".

Professor Bond is Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa; Chair of the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative; and Founder and Faculty Director of the University of Ottawa Refugee Hub. She has also served as Special Advisor to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship; was on the founding executive of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, and led the creation of the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program (“SSP”), which has mobilized over 1,300 pro-bono lawyers to assist Canadians across the country seeking to privately sponsor refugees. She has published extensively, is a frequent media commentator, has given numerous presentations at national and international events, and has contributed to litigation, including by appearing in interventions in important refugee cases at the Supreme Court of Canada. She holds a BA and BCom from the University of Calgary, an LLB from the University of Victoria, and an LLM from Yale Law School.

Her nomination was supported by several colleagues who noted Professor Bond’s truly outstanding dedication to refugees over the past decade. She has demonstrated exceptional leadership, advocacy, and community building in the face of the migrant crisis, and been a great source of inspiration to many people through her work.

One of the Tarnopolsky award criteria for 2016 was that it must be awarded to a person not yet at the midpoint of his or her career. With her remarkable achievements to date, Professor Bond is an extremely deserving candidate.

ICJ Canada was profoundly saddened to learn of the passing of Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, President of ICJ Geneva. He was an internationally-renowned human rights educator and advocate, who played a key role in the development of international human rights law and insitutions. At ICJC's Board of Directors meeting held January 26, 2017, the Board passed a unanimous motion expressing our grief at his loss, and expressing condolences to his colleagues and loved ones. We are inspired by his lifetime of work and seek to carry on his torch.

Learn more about his life and work here and here.

A message to ICJC members from Professor Errol Mendes, President:

As a member for ICJ Canada in 2016, I would like to thank you for your support and important contributions to our organization. We very much appreciate your commitment to our organization, and ask that you maintain it this year, by renewing your membership online today and, if you can, donate to help with the work of our organization.

Your membership  allows us to initiate many events and activities that have a positive contribution in our legal profession and in Canadian society, such as the impactful publication of our initial report on the federal judicial appointments process, and hosting a panel on legislative responses to modern slavery (see the video online)– our first step of engagement in this important area related to business, the rule of law, and human rights.

I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank ICJC Board members Rebecca Robb, Naveen Mehta, and Jennifer Egsgard, whose efforts have been essential to the realization of these initiatives. 

Similarly, I’d like to thank our new Vice President for the Prairies John McWilliams, and Council member Jim Arnett for organizing highly successful fundraising dinners this year featuring Dick Pound in Calgary and Toronto, respectively; Council member Peter Tinsley for putting together a successful full day Conference on Canadian whole of government involvement in fragile states; and Board member Chantal Bernier, with whom I hosted an engaging consultative event on national security and civil liberties that involved participants from government, the private sector, and rights-focused NGOs.

We are very excited about several projects that we have initiated and will carry forward this year. What does 2017 have in store for us?

• We will be hosting 2016 Tarnopolsky Award winner Professor Jennifer Bond in discussion with Senator Ratna Omidvar for a special event on responding to the refugee crisis in Ottawa on January 31
• Following the successful panel discussion we hosted on legislative responses to Modern Slavery, we are building a coalition and working towards the potential adoption of laws in Canada similar to the UK Modern Slavery Act
• We’ll continue to work on the second part of our judicial appointments project, the first portion of which has already had a national-level impact
• We are a project partner for “Realizing Rights 2017: Human Rights and Constitutionalism”, a major Conference to take place June 8-10 at the University of Ottawa – and plan to hold our Annual Members’ Meeting in conjunction with this conference (Details TBD – save the date!)
• Also coinciding with Canada’s 150th Anniversary, we intend to publish a book of short essays on the rule of law in Canada, featuring high quality contributions by jurists from across Canada.

To find out more about any of these projects, or if you’d like to participate more closely in any of them, do not hesitate to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Janine Lespérance.

Once again, thank you for your support! Wishing you and yours the very best for this new year.

Sincerely,

Errol Mendes

Discussion and cocktail reception to be held on Parliament Hill, 256S Centre Block, 5:30-7:30pm, Tuesday, January 31st. RSVP online to confirm a place.

On November 21, 2016, ICJ Canada hosted a timely and engaging panel discussion in Toronto: "Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: Trends in Global Corporate Liability and Legislation". A continuing professional development event, attendees learned a great deal about the problem of modern slavery, challenges for companies, and legislative responses to the problem. The event featured a diversity of viewpoints, which the lawyers and students present had the opportunity to continue to discuss at a reception following the panel. The presenters were: 

• UK solicitor Peter Talibart, Managing Partner of Seyforth Shaw LLP London office
• Kevin McGurgan, UK Consul-General and Director-General of UK Trade and Investment in Canada
• Mark Trachuk, Partner, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto
• Ruth Dearnley, Chief Executive Officer, Stop the Traffik
• Jonathan Drimmer, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Barrick Gold Corp.
• Mora Johnson, Barrister and Solicitor, Former Chair, OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains, Former Senior Advisor, Global Affairs Canada

If you were unable to attend the event in person, or if you would like to revisit the discussion, ICJ Canada is delighted to share this video of the panel with you:

We received many positive comments about this event and look forward to continued engagement on the pressing global issue of modern slavery.

On October 20, 2017, ICJ Canada held a very special full-day CPD programme in Ottawa, focusing on building the rule of law in fragile states through whole of government involvement, linking military, justice sector, humanitarian, and development assistance.

Beginning with remarks delivered by the Honourable John McKay, Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of National Defence, the conference featured a range of renowned experts and leaders from the military, security, legal, and media sectors.

The keynote speaker, featured over the lunch hour, was General Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff. His engaging comments touched on the new reality of interventions in fragile states, in which the military can play a role in creating a platform for other types of efforts that will together create development and long term stability, rather than short-lived victories.

Other themes discussed during the day included:

• Integrating whole of government expertise in Canadian involvement in Middle East conflict zones (Gen. Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff; Mark Gwozdecky, Assistant Deputy Minister, Department of Global Affairs; Prof. Thomas Juneau, University of Ottawa, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs); 
• Accountability challenges and dealing with the destructive consequences of conflict (Prof. Errol Mendes, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, and President, International Commission of Jurists, Canadian Section; BGen. (ret’d) Kenneth Watkin, former judge advocate general and legal author; Robert Petit, Senior Counsel and Team Leader, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Section, Department of Justice)
• Best and worst practices in establishing or strengthening national justice and security sector institutions (Andrew J. Carswell, Senior Delegate to Canada for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); Assistant Commissioner Serge Therriault, Executive Director, Public Affairs, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP))
• Oversight of international peacebuilding efforts in relation to international criminal law (Hon. Marie Deschamps, former justice of the SCC and UN investigator; Linda Bianchi, Counsel, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Section, Department of Justice and former international prosecutor; MGen Blaise Cathcart, Judge Advocate General)
• The role of media and knowledge networks in contributing to sustainable peace building, democracy and development (Murray Brewster, CBC reporter and author); Prof. Stephen Baranyi, University of Ottawa, School of International Development and Global Studies)
• Integrating silos for effective policy development (Anne Burgess, Director, Conflict Policy and Security Coherence Secretariat within the Task Force, Global Affairs Canada; Prof. Stephen Baranyi)

All discussions were enlightening and well-received by the audience, made up of professionals from the private sector, including civil society, and public sector, especially the military, as well as academia.

Many thanks to ICJ Canada Council Member Peter Tinsley, former international prosecutor and justice sector consultant, for organizing this highly successful event. Without his efforts, attendees would not have had such a unique learning opportunity.

In collaboration with the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, and the Centre for International Policy Studies, University of Ottawa. 

Exploitative or forced labour, termed “modern slavery”, in supply chains is an increasingly recognized and urgent problem. Discovery of modern slavery in a company’s supply chain can seriously affect the reputations and business of companies and sectors of global manufacturing, and has devastating consequences for its victims.

A unique CPD conference featuring leading legal and policy experts discussing cutting edge issues in international interventions. An event not to miss for lawyers keen on human rights, humanitarian law, and foreign policy issues!

Accredited by the Law Society of Upper Canada for 1 Professionalism hour and 5h35min of Substantive content. Cost: $375 for full-day event, including lunch. Click here to Register today.