Michel Bastarache, C.C.

The Honourable Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache joined the firm’s Ottawa office in 2008 as counsel in our Litigation Group. A distinguished jurist, scholar, professor, prolific author, as well as businessman, he brings to the firm an exceptionally rich background and experience.

For more than a decade, Mr. Bastarache served as Justice of the rendering rulings that spanned a spectrum of issues as well as a large number of cases related to the application of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Preceding his appointment to the Supreme Court, Mr. Bastarache served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick (1995- 1997), where he presided over cases in a variety of fields, including constitutional, administrative and criminal law.

Prior to his judicial appointments, Mr. Bastarache was very much involved in the academic, government, business and legal communities. He was a legal translator for the Government of New Brunswick (1970-1971), Secretary General of the Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau Brunswick (1973-1974), a law professor and Dean at the University of Moncton Faculty of Law (1978-1983), Director General of the Department of the Secretary of State of Canada Promotion of Official Languages Branch (1983-1984), and Associate Dean of the Common Law section at the Faculty of Law (1984-1987). He also worked for the Assumption Mutual Life Counsel Insurance Company where he was appointed Vice-President and Director of Marketing (1974-1977) and later President and Chief Executive Officer (1989-1994). In addition, he worked in private Ottawa 613 236.1668 practice in Ottawa (1987-1989) and Moncton (1994-1995).Throughout his exceptional career, Mr. [email protected] Bastarache was awarded numerous honorary degrees, prestigious decorations and awards in recognition of his outstanding leadership in private practice, legal education and public service. He Call to the Bar holds honorary degrees from the University of Moncton (1998), Dalhousie University (1998), the , 2008 University of Ottawa (1998), the University of Mount Allison (2001), the University of Manitoba Ontario, 1986 (2005), the Université Sainte-Anne (2006), the University of New Brunswick (2007) and the Alberta, 1985 Université de Montréal (2008). A Goodman Fellow of the University of Toronto and a Fellow of the New Brunswick, 1980 American College of Trial Lawyers, Mr. Bastarache was recognized on numerous occasions for his significant contributions and commitment to French-speaking and Acadian communities across Areas of Expertise Canada. He received, among other awards, the Ordre des francophones d’Amérique from the Administrative & Constitutional Law Government of Québec (1981), the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal (1993), Appellate Litigation & Judicial Review the title of Jurist of the Year from the Association des juristes d’expression française du Nouveau- Civil & Commercial Litigation Brunswick (1993), the Boréal Award from the Fédération des communautés francophones et Insurance acadiennes du Canada (1995), the Médaille de Commandeur de l’Ordre de la Pléiade (1999), the Aboriginal Law Officier de la Légion d'honneur Medal from the Government of the French Republic (2003) and was Labour & Employment Law appointed Companion of the Order of Canada (2009). Education Human Rights Mr. Bastarache has sat on countless boards and committees involving legal education and the Tax Litigation practice of law, and was quite active in the business community. He was a member of the editorial boards of the Revue générale de droit international, the Revue québécoise de droit international, the Revue générale de droit of the University of Ottawa and the Revue du Nouvel Ontario of Laurentian University. He was Associate Editor of the review C’est ton droit, Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Bar Review (1998-2005), Vice-Chair of the National Judicial Institute (2004-2008), a member of the Canadian National Group to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (2005-2008), and, since 2003, has been a member of the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Honour Society.

Mr. Bastarache has edited and authored numerous publications and books including Language Rights in Canada (Yvon Blais, 1987 and 2004 [2nd ed.]), Les Droits linguistiques au Canada (Yvon Blais, 1986 and 2004 [2nd ed.]), Précis du droit des biens réels (Yvon Blais, 1993 and 2001 [2nd ed.]) and The Law of Bilingual Interpretation (Butterworths, 2008).

Education LL.B., University of Ottawa, 1978 D.E.S. (Public Law), University of Nice, 1972 LL.L., Université de Montréal, 1970 B.A., Université de Moncton, 1967