Please join us on Monday, June 13th, as we celebrate the work of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Canada’s Louise Arbour and recognize her for her distinguished efforts in the fields of law and human rights. Ms. Arbour will receive the Club’s Distinguished Canadian Award and then share her thougths on the topic of, “the presumption of innocence in the context of anti-terrorism and other emergency measures.”
A Montrealer by birth, Ms. Arbour graduated from College Regina Assumpta, Montreal in 1967, completed an LL.L (with distinction) from the Faculty of Law, University of Montreal in 1970 and was called to the Quebec Bar in 1971 and the Ontario Bar in 1977. Ms. Arbour began a distinguished academic career in 1970, culminating in the positions of Associate Professor and Associate Dean at the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto, Canada, in 1987. In December of 1987, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario (High Court of Justice) and in 1990 she was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In 1995, Ms. Arbour was appointed as Commissioner to lead an inquiry into certain events at the Prisons for Women in Kingston, Ontario.
In 1996, she was appointed by the Security Council of the United Nations as Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. After three years as UN Prosecutor, she returned home to take up an appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The mother of three children, Ms. Arbour has received honorary doctorates from 27 Universities and numerous medals and awards. She is a member of many distinguished professional societies and organizations and has served on the boards of many others. She has published extensively on criminal law and given innumerable addresses on both national and international criminal law.
