Michel Bastarache C, C, QC Mr. Justice Bastarache, C.C., B.A., LL.L

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Michel Bastarache C, C, QC Mr. Justice Bastarache, C.C., B.A., LL.L., LLB., D.E.S. Born June 10, 1947. Educated at University of Moncton (B.A.), University of Montreal (LL.L.), University of Ottawa (LL.B.) and University of Nice (DES, a graduate degree in public law). Honorary degrees, University of Moncton, 1998, Dalhousie University, 1998; Ottawa University, 1998; University of Mount Allison, 2001 ; University of Manitoba , 2005; Université Sainte-Anne, 2006; University of New Brunswick, 2007, University of Montreal, 2008. Legal translator in the New Brunswick government, Vice-President and Director of Marketing at Assumption Life, later President and Chief Executive Officer of Assumption Life and its subsidiaries. Law professor and Dean at the University of Moncton Law School, 1978-83. Director General, Promotion of Official Languages, Department of the Secretary of State of Canada, 1983-84. Associate Dean, Common Law Section, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, 1984-87. Practiced law in Ottawa with Lang, Michener, Lash, Johnston, 1987-89, and in Moncton with Steward, McKelvey, Stirling, Scales, 1994- 95.Mr Bastarache was appointed to the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick in 1995 and the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997. Mr. Justice Bastarache was counsel in the firm of Heenan Blaikie from July of 2008 to February 2014; he is now practicing on his own under the name Michel Bastarache Professional Corporation. He is counsel to the firm of Gall, Legge, Grant and Szwak in Vancouver. He was counsel for Power Law until January 2018 and is now counsel to Caza Saykaley in Ottawa. He is also an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Moncton, and at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. Called to the New Brunswick Bar, 1980, the Alberta Bar, 1985, and the Ontario Bar, 1986. In 2008 Mr. Justice Bastarache rejoined the bars of NB and Ontario, and joined the Bar of Quebec. In 2014 he added the Bar of BC. Mr. Bastarache was a member of the Interim Constitutional Court of Kenya responsible for the supervision of constitutional reform 2010. He was also Commissionner, Commission d'enquête sur la nomination des juges au Québec, 2013. He was the independent conciliator for the indemnification of victims of sexual abuse for the dioceses of Bathurst (2010-2012) and Moncton (2012-2014). He is now the Independent conciliator for the indemnification of the female members of the RCMP victims of sexual harassment. Editor and principal author of three books: Language Rights in Canada (Yvon Blais, 1987 and 2004 (2nd ed.)), Les droits linguistiques au Canada, (Yvon Blais 1986, 2006 and 2013). Precis du droit des biens reels (Yvon Blais, 1993 and 2001 (2nd ed.)) and The Law of Bilingual Interpretation (Butterworths, 2008).Over 200 publications in collective works and periodicals. He has been an Administrative Tribunal Judge since 2015. .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

The Social Context Education Project (SCEP) Was a Special Project of the National Judicial Institute Between 1996-2003
NATIONAL JUDICIAL INSTITUTE, CANADA THE SOCIAL CONTEXT EDUCATION PROJECT SUMMARY The Social Context Education Project (SCEP) was a special project of the National Judicial Institute between 1996-2003. The program had two phases: • Phase I concentrated on full-court education seminars in every province of Canada. These seminars were designed to create a common base of information and understanding of the relevance and applicability of social context among all judges in Canada. Over 20 programs were held involving over 1000 judges. • Phase II focused on developed skilled judicial education leaders in this area through an intensive program of judicial faculty development. Curriculum development was another focus of Phase II. Since 2003, social context has been integrated as a regular component of NJI work through adoption of the guiding principle that judicial education should always be ‘three dimensional’ (substantive law, skills development and social context awareness) and designation of a member of the senior management team responsible for social context integration. The Social Context Education Program: • Built on work initiated in Canada by the Western Judicial Education Centre • Was mandated by the Canadian Judicial Council and supported by Chief Judges. • Built from the premise that understanding social context and integrating it into judicial processes and judicial decision-making is mandated by law. • Was developed in synergy with jurisprudential developments explicitly recognizing the legitimacy of contextual inquiry in judicial decision-making. • Has proceeded on the basis that social context education is a long-term process not an inoculation. The long-term goal is integration of social context into all forms of judicial education as an automatic part of the landscape.
[Show full text]
Reforming the Supreme Court Appointment Process, 2004-2014: a 10-Year Democratic Audit 2014 Canliidocs 33319 Adam M
The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference Volume 67 (2014) Article 4 Reforming the Supreme Court Appointment Process, 2004-2014: A 10-Year Democratic Audit 2014 CanLIIDocs 33319 Adam M. Dodek Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Citation Information Dodek, Adam M.. "Reforming the Supreme Court Appointment Process, 2004-2014: A 10-Year Democratic Audit." The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference 67. (2014). http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/vol67/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Osgoode Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The uS preme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference by an authorized editor of Osgoode Digital Commons. Reforming the Supreme Court Appointment Process, 2004-2014: A 10-Year Democratic Audit* Adam M. Dodek** 2014 CanLIIDocs 33319 The way in which Justice Rothstein was appointed marks an historic change in how we appoint judges in this country. It brought unprecedented openness and accountability to the process. The hearings allowed Canadians to get to know Justice Rothstein through their members of Parliament in a way that was not previously possible.1 — The Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, PC [J]udicial appointments … [are] a critical part of the administration of justice in Canada … This is a legacy issue, and it will live on long after those who have the temporary stewardship of this position are no longer there.
[Show full text]
Gosselin V. Que´Bec (Attorney General)
Gosselin v. Que´bec (Attorney General) Gwen Brodsky, Rachel Cox, Shelagh Day and Kate Stephenson Authors’ Note Some of the authors of this judgment have a history with Gosselin v. Quebec (Attorney General) that pre-dates the creation of the Women’s Court of Canada. Rachel Cox and Gwen Brodsky were co-counsel to the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) in its 2001 intervention in Gosselin at the Supreme Court of Canada. Shelagh Day was an advisor to NAWL’s legal team in that litigation. Kate Stephenson was not directly involved in the Gosselin case, but her work as a leading anti-poverty litigator makes her intimately familiar with the reasoning and outcome. Each of the authors has been affected by the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision. Rachel Cox, who lived in Montre´ al in the 1980s when the Social Aid Regulation reduced young people’s welfare benefit by two-thirds, felt keenly the gulf between the reality of the time and the Supreme Court of Canada’s characterization of the scheme as ‘‘an affirmation of [young people’s] potential’’ and dignity. For those living in Que´ bec in the 1980s, the reason for the reduced rate was clear: to save the government money. Even if people disagreed about whether that was right or wrong, no one believed at the time that the government had designed the scheme in a sincere effort to help young people on welfare. There was a recession and somebody had to pay. Simply put, the court case was about whether or not it was legal for the government to make already very poor welfare recipients pay so much of the cost.
[Show full text]
Poverty Law and Society Series W
Poverty Law and Society Series W. Wesley Pue, General Editor The Law and Society Series explores law as a socially embedded phenom- enon. It is premised on the understanding that the conventional division of law from society creates false dichotomies in thinking, scholarship, educational practice, and social life. Books in the series treat law and society as mutually constitutive and seek to bridge scholarship emerging from interdisciplinary engagement of law with disciplines such as politics, social theory, history, political economy, and gender studies. A list of the titles in this series is available at http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/ series_law.html Edited by Margot Young, Susan B. Boyd, Gwen Brodsky, and Shelagh Day Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship, and Legal Activism © UBC Press 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca. 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in Canada on ancient-forest-free paper (100% post-consumer recycled) that is processed chlorine- and acid-free, with vegetable-based inks. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Poverty : rights, social citizenship, and legal activism / edited by Margot Young [et al.]. (Law and Society, ISSN 1496-4953) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7748-1287-0 1. Public welfare – Law and legislation – Canada.
[Show full text]
37524 in the Supreme Court of Canada (On Appeal from the Court of Appeal for British Columbia)
SCC Court File No: 37524 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA (ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA) B E T W E E N: HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA APPELLANT (Appellant) - and - PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL, INC. RESPONDENT (Respondent) MOTION RECORD OF SAMUELSON-GLUSHKO CANADIAN INTERNET POLICY AND PUBLIC INTEREST CLINIC (Motion for leave to intervene) Pursuant to Rules 47 and 55 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section Common Law Section 57 Louis Pasteur Street 57 Louis Pasteur Street Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5 Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5 David Fewer David Fewer Tel: (613) 562-5800 x 2558 Tel: (613) 562-5800 x 2558 Fax: (613) 562-5417 Fax: (613) 562-5417 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Counsel for the Proposed Intervener Agent for the Proposed Intervener TO: THE REGISTRAR COPY TO: SISKINDS LLP SUPREME ADVOCACY LLP 680 Waterloo Street 100-340 Gilmour Street PO Box 2520, Station B Ottawa, ON K2P 0R3 London, ON N6A 3V8 James D. Virtue Marie-France Major Tel: (519) 672-2121 Tel: (613) 695-8855 Ext: 102 Fax: (519) 672-6065 Fax: (613) 695-8580 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Counsel for the Appellant, Agent for the Appellant, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of British Columbia British Columbia AND TO: McCARTHY TÉTRAULT LLP GOWLING WLG (CANADA) LLP Suite 2400, 745 Thurlow Street 160 Elgin Street, Suite 2600 Vancouver, BC, V6E 0C5 Ottawa, ON, K1P 1C3 Michael A.
[Show full text]
Michel Bastarache's Language Rights Legacy
The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference Volume 47 (2009) Article 13 Michel Bastarache’s Language Rights Legacy Michel Y. Hélie Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Citation Information Hélie, Michel Y.. "Michel Bastarache’s Language Rights Legacy." The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference 47. (2009). http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/vol47/iss1/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Osgoode Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The uS preme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference by an authorized editor of Osgoode Digital Commons. Michel Bastarache’s Language Rights Legacy Michel Y. Hélie I. CONQUEST TO CONFEDERATION On a battlefield almost 250 years ago, General Wolfe faced the Marquis de Montcalm and the dream of une Amérique française died. La Nouvelle-France, even then commonly known as Canada, became a British colony and the status of the language of Molière became uncertain, threatened and the source of conflict ever since. The constitutional status of the French language today in Canada, the direction in which it is headed, and the influence the Honourable Michel Bastarache has exerted over these issues is the subject of this paper. Although the intention of the British Empire to assimilate its newest acquisition is beyond doubt, the French fact, that is, the overwhelming majority of French-speaking inhabitants north of the American colonies, presented a significant challenge to achieving this goal.
[Show full text]
Interpreting the Charter with International Law: Pitfalls & Principles
APPEAL VOLUME 19 n 105 Winner of the 2014 McCarthy Tétrault Law Journal Prize for Exceptional Writing ARTICLE INTERPRETING THE CHARTER WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW: PITFALLS & PRINCIPLES Benjamin Oliphant* CITED: (2014) 19 Appeal 105–129 INTRODUCTION While the use of international human rights law in Canadian courts is not an entirely novel phenomenon,1 there is little doubt that it has become more prevalent in the Supreme Court of Canada’s jurisprudence.2 Far from being treated “as some exotic branch of the law, to be avoided if at all possible,”3 the courts have come to embrace international law and human rights norms, notably in the course of defining the guarantees found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter”).4 Indeed, more than simply being considered among various aids to interpretation, it is often said that the Charter must be presumed to provide at least as much protection as international human rights law and norms, particularly those binding treaties that served as its inspiration.5 However, as I aim to show below, the Court has so far used international human rights law inconsistently and imprecisely in the process of Charter interpretation, exhibiting * The author would like to thank the Appeal Editorial Board for their diligent work and helpful suggestions throughout the process, and Judith Oliphant for her editorial assistance and unwavering support. Special thanks are also owed to Professor Brian Langille, who has been a constant source of encouragement and with whom many of these ideas below were initially developed. 1 See e.g. R v Shindler, [1944] AJ No 11, 82 CCC 206; R v Brosig, [1944] 2 DLR 232, 83 CCC 199; and R v Kaehler and Stolski, [1945] 3 DLR 272, 83 CCC 353.
[Show full text]
2007 Annual Report
“Protecting the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through education and public interest litigation.” 2007 Annual Report 2 A Message from the Executive Director Starting with just one court case in 2005, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) has experi- enced phenomenal growth in 2006 and 2007. Since 2005, the CCF has: • Supported Chief Mountain’s fight for his equality rights as a Canadian in the face of an un- constitutional “Third Order” of government created by the Nisga’a Agreement (see page 14); • Intervened on behalf of taxpayers in Kingstreet Investments v. New Brunswick, in which the Supreme Court of Canada adopted the CCF’s argument that governments be held account- able for illegal taxation (see page 7); • Supported the constitutional challenge to Ontario’s ban on private health insurance, brought by Shona Holmes and Lindsay McCreith as they assert their right to access essential health care services outside of the Ontario Government’s monopoly (see pages 10 and 11); • Represented the Japanese Canadian Fishermens Association as it intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Kapp, a constitutional challenge to race-based commercial fisheries in B.C. (see page 13); and • Supported Doug Gould’s fight for racial equality on the Queen Charlotte Islands (see page 13). In addition to these court interventions, the CCF released “Judging the Judges” in April of 2007, just prior to the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “Judging the Judges” assesses Supreme Court of Canada judges in upholding individual and economic freedom, and equality before the law. This study examines cases which have a direct impact on the individual and economic freedom of citizens, and their equality before the law.
[Show full text]
Michel Bastaracheâ•Žs Language Rights Legacy
The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference Volume 47 (2009) Article 13 Michel Bastarache’s Language Rights Legacy Michel Y. Hélie 2009 CanLIIDocs 358 Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Citation Information Hélie, Michel Y.. "Michel Bastarache’s Language Rights Legacy." The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference 47. (2009). http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/vol47/iss1/13 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Osgoode Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The uS preme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference by an authorized editor of Osgoode Digital Commons. Michel Bastarache’s Language Rights Legacy Michel Y. Hélie 2009 CanLIIDocs 358 I. CONQUEST TO CONFEDERATION On a battlefield almost 250 years ago, General Wolfe faced the Marquis de Montcalm and the dream of une Amérique française died. La Nouvelle-France, even then commonly known as Canada, became a British colony and the status of the language of Molière became uncertain, threatened and the source of conflict ever since. The constitutional status of the French language today in Canada, the direction in which it is headed, and the influence the Honourable Michel Bastarache has exerted over these issues is the subject of this paper. Although the intention of the British Empire to assimilate its newest acquisition is beyond doubt, the French fact, that is, the overwhelming majority of French-speaking inhabitants north of the American colonies, presented a significant challenge to achieving this goal.
[Show full text]
Gwen Brodsky
6 Human Rights and Poverty: A Twenty-First Century Tribute to J.S. Woodsworth and Call for Human Rights1 gwen brodsky The Canada for which J.S. Woodsworth and the Co-operative Common- wealth Federation (CCF) party struggled – a society in which everyone has an adequate standard of living, including access to adequate food, clothing and housing, health care, workers’ rights, and social programs are vigorous (MacInnis, 1953), is not the Canada of today. This is a mo- ment in Canadian political history when government commitment to social programs is at a low ebb.2 It has become shockingly ordinary that people in Vancouver, and other major cities in Canada, have to line up at food banks, beg, steal, sleep in doorways and on church pews, and sell their bodies to support themselves and their children.3 This chap- ter is concerned with the disjuncture between Canada’s human rights obligations and poverty in Canada. Social programs are essential to re- alizing Canada’s human rights obligations. This essay maps out in gen- eral terms a practical and concrete proposal for legislation that would require greater governmental accountability for the establishment and maintenance of adequate social programs. If it is recognized that hav- ing adequate social programs is essential to the realization of human rights that inhere in all Canadians, it follows that there is a governmen- tal obligation, not only to establish social programs, but to have eﬀ ec- tive accountability mechanisms to ensure stability, and consistency for social programs, and to guard against their erosion. It is not my intention in this chapter to take issue with the moral and religious foundations for the sense of social obligation that ani- mated the social reformers of Woodsworth’s time.
[Show full text]
The Day the Dialogue Died: a Comment on Sauve V. Canada
Osgoode Hall Law Journal Volume 45, Number 1 (Spring 2007) Article 5 Charter Dialogue: Ten Years Later The aD y the Dialogue Died: A Comment on Sauve v. Canada Christopher P. Manfredi Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj Part of the Constitutional Law Commons Commentary Citation Information Manfredi, Christopher P.. "The aD y the Dialogue Died: A Comment on Sauve v. Canada." Osgoode Hall Law Journal 45.1 (2007) : 105-123. http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol45/iss1/5 This Commentary is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Osgoode Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Osgoode Hall Law Journal by an authorized editor of Osgoode Digital Commons. The aD y the Dialogue Died: A Comment on Sauve v. Canada Abstract In Sauvé v. Canada (2002) a sharply divided Supreme Court of Canada nullified the inmate disenfranchisement provision of the Canada Elections Act. One of the more important aspects of the majority decision by Chief Justice McLachlin is her refusal to let the concept of dialogue take her down the path of judicial deference. This commentary examines the chief justice's reasons for not taking this path and explores how these reasons reveal the limitations of the dialogue metaphor as originally articulated by Peter Hogg and Allison Bushell. The ommec ntary concludes that any meaningful concept of legislative-judicial dialogue must recognize a coordinate legislative authority to interpret a constitution. Keywords Canada; Canada. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; Judicial review; Prisoners--Legal status, laws, etc.
[Show full text]
The Legacy of Beverley Mclachlin Inside and Outside of Court
Leader and Representative: The Legacy of Beverley McLachlin Inside and Outside of Court Emmett Macfarlane I. INTRODUCTION Many interesting and important factors arise when considering Beverley McLachlin’s legacy. As Canada’s longest-serving Chief Justice, and third longest-serving Supreme Court justice, one is tempted to focus on longevity itself as a key variable, for in many ways McLachlin became an institution unto herself. Temporality is also significant: the public importance of the Court is dramatically different in the period since the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms1 than it was, for example, before 1949, when it was not the final appellate court of the land and dealt largely with cases of comparatively little public importance. Never has the Court, nor its Chief Justice, wielded this much influence and policy- making power. McLachlin’s status as Canada’s first woman to be appointed Chief Justice is also an interesting frame for analysis of a legacy, when the force of personality and leadership skills are so deeply relevant to the dynamics of a multi-member body like the Supreme Court. Yet the legacy of a Chief Justice is much more than a set of benchmarks. It is also more than the body of jurisprudence that developed during McLachlin’s tenure, or the specific areas of law that she helped to shape, although these are all things that warrant extensive examination. In the analysis that follows, I instead focus on two core aspects of the Chief Justice’s leadership within and beyond the Court: her influence in developing and increasing consensus on the Court, and her role as the foremost voice of the judicial branch outside of the Court.
[Show full text]