Irwin Cotler

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'Hon. Irwin Cotler'
Incumbent
Riding Mount Royal
In office since 1999 by-election
Preceded by Sheila Finestone
Born May 8, 1940
Montreal, Quebec
Political party

Liberal
Profession(s) Lawyer, professor of law

Irwin Cotler, PC , MP , OC , BA , BCL , LL.D , Ph.D (born May 8, 1940) was Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal government of Paul Martin lost power following the 2006 federal election. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the constituency of Mount Royal in a by-election in November 1999, winning over 91% of votes cast. He was sworn into Cabinet on December 12, 2003.

The son of a lawyer, he was born in Montreal, Quebec, studied at McGill University there, and for a short period worked with federal Minister of Justice John Turner.

Cotler was a professor of law at McGill University and the director of its Human Rights Program from 1973 until his election as a Member of Parliament in 1999 for the Liberal Party of Canada. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Yale Law School and is the recipient of five honorary doctorates. He was appointed in 1992 as an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is a past president of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

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[edit] Human rights activity

Dr. Irwin Cotler has served on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and its sub-Committee on Human Rights and International Development, as well as on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. In 2000, Dr. Cotler was appointed special advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the International Criminal Court.

Dr. Irwin Cotler is considered an expert on international law and human rights law. As an international human rights lawyer, Cotler served as counsel to former prisoners of conscience Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Jacobo Timmerman in Latin America, Muchtar Pakpahan in Asia, as well as other well known political prisoners and dissidents. Cotler represented Natan Sharansky, who was imprisoned in the Soviet gulag for Jewish activism. After his release, Sharansky went on to become Israeli Deputy Prime Minister.

Saad Ibrahim, an Egyptian democracy activist imprisoned by the Egyptian government, was represented by Cotler and acquitted in 2003. He acted as counsel to Maher Arar during part of Arar's imprisonment and supported demands for a public inquiry. He has also defended both Palestinians and Israelis against their own governments, and participated in a minor role in the Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.

In 1986 he was chief counsel to the Canadian Jewish Congress at the Deschênes Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals.

[edit] National Security and the Law

One of the central challenges for Cotler during his time as Justice Minister, was to address concerns about terrorism while guarding against arbitrary and unnecessary limits on rights. Part of his work in this regard, has included a review of Bill C-36, Canada's relatively recent Anti-Terrorism Act. The Anti-Terrorism Act has been criticized by some human rights groups and defense lawyers, as an unreasonable trade-off between security and freedom [1]. Cotler believed that the legislation did, in fact, strike a balance between rights and national security concerns, but understood that further consultation was necessary in reviewing the legislation. On February 21, 2005, Cotler spoke of the important work that Bill C-36 involved, and invited experts and other groups to continue dialogue to improve the legislation in the review process [2].

Cotler resided over other legislative changes concerning national security. This included proposed changes to privacy legislation known as “Lawful Access” to give police and intelligence officers the tools to conduct surveillance of electronic communications for law enforcement and national security purposes [3] [4].

Due to his position as Justice Minister, Cotler has received many appeals from various groups asking that so-called "secret" trials and detentions in Canada be abolished [5]. But these "appeals" and protests are often based on false or inaccurate information. For example, the security certificates are subject to judicial review and constitutional scrutiny by the Federal Court of Canada and the proceeding is not "secret". Rather, only evidence deemed to relate to national security is protected from disclosure.[[6]] Additionally, the Canadian federal court of appeal ruled, in December of 2004, that security certificates were fully consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[[7]] This decision was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court heard the (related) appeals in June of 2006, has reserved its decision.[[8]]

[edit] Politics

Though he intended his foray into politics to be a brief departure from his academic career, this changed when Prime Minister Paul Martin called upon him to enter Cabinet as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

He recommended and defended the appointment of two women to the Supreme Court of Canada in August 2004, Louise Charron and Rosalie Abella.

On February 22, 2006, the Liberal Party appointed Cotler Critic for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness in the opposition shadow cabinet for the 39th Canadian Parliament.

[edit] Views on anti-Semitism

Cotler is popular within the Canadian Jewish community, given his attempts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice and his strong support of Israel. Irwin Cotler separated six categories of anti-Semitism and found thirteen indices of discrimination against Jews that characterizes the "new anti-Jewishness".

[edit] Trivia

In July 2005, Cotler represented Canada in the masters division of the ping pong tournament at the Maccabiah Games in Israel.

[edit] Quotes

On the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the lifeblood of democracy, echoing the Supreme Court of Canada that 'liberty in freedom of expression is little less vital to man than breathing is to his physical existence,' and that 'it is difficult to imagine a guaranteed right more important to a democratic society than freedom of expression.'

[edit] Miscellaneous

Irwin Cotler attempted to introduce several bills to decriminalize marijuana. [9][10]


[edit] External links

27th Ministry - Government of Paul Martin
Cabinet Post
Predecessor Office Successor
Martin Cauchon Minister of Justice
(2003–2006)
 Vic Toews
Preceded by:
Sheila Finestone		 Member of Parliament for Mount Royal
1999-		 Succeeded by:
Incumbent
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