Irwin Cotler,
PCThe Queen's Privy Council for Canada , sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council,
is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign...
,
OCThe Order of Canada is an honour for merit that is, within the Canadian system of honours, the highest such order administered by the Governor General-in-Council, on behalf of the Queen of Canada. Created in 1967, to coincide with the centennial of Canadian...
,
MPThe 40th Canadian Parliament is the current Parliament of Canada, with the membership of its House of Commons determined by the results of the 2008 federal election held on October 14, 2008, and it opened on November 18, 2008...
(born May 8, 1940) was
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's
Minister of JusticeThe Minister of Justice is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Department of Justice and is also Attorney General of Canada.This cabinet position is usually reserved for someone with formal legal training...
and
Attorney General of CanadaThe Attorney General of Canada is the top prosecuting officer in Canada. The role is part of the cabinet post of the Minister of Justice.The role was created in 1867 replacing the Attorney General of Canada West and Attorney General of Canada East....
from 2003 until the
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party sits between the centre-left and centre of the Canadian political spectrum. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since the 2006 federal election...
government of
Paul MartinPaul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC is a Canadian politician who was the Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
lost power following the
2006 federal electionThe 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
. He was first elected to the
Canadian House of CommonsThe House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate.
The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament .
Members are elected by simple...
for the constituency of
Mount RoyalMount Royal is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1925. Its population in 2006 was 98,888....
in a
by-electionA by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections...
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
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
,
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, studied at
McGill UniversityMcGill University is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
there (receiving a BA in 1961 and a law degree three years later) and then continued his education at
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
.
Irwin Cotler,
PCThe Queen's Privy Council for Canada , sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council,
is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign...
,
OCThe Order of Canada is an honour for merit that is, within the Canadian system of honours, the highest such order administered by the Governor General-in-Council, on behalf of the Queen of Canada. Created in 1967, to coincide with the centennial of Canadian...
,
MPThe 40th Canadian Parliament is the current Parliament of Canada, with the membership of its House of Commons determined by the results of the 2008 federal election held on October 14, 2008, and it opened on November 18, 2008...
(born May 8, 1940) was
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's
Minister of JusticeThe Minister of Justice is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Department of Justice and is also Attorney General of Canada.This cabinet position is usually reserved for someone with formal legal training...
and
Attorney General of CanadaThe Attorney General of Canada is the top prosecuting officer in Canada. The role is part of the cabinet post of the Minister of Justice.The role was created in 1867 replacing the Attorney General of Canada West and Attorney General of Canada East....
from 2003 until the
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party sits between the centre-left and centre of the Canadian political spectrum. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since the 2006 federal election...
government of
Paul MartinPaul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC is a Canadian politician who was the Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
lost power following the
2006 federal electionThe 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
. He was first elected to the
Canadian House of CommonsThe House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate.
The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament .
Members are elected by simple...
for the constituency of
Mount RoyalMount Royal is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1925. Its population in 2006 was 98,888....
in a
by-electionA by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections...
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
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
,
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, studied at
McGill UniversityMcGill University is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
there (receiving a BA in 1961 and a law degree three years later) and then continued his education at
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
. For a short period, he worked with federal Minister of Justice
John TurnerJohn Napier Wyndham Turner, PC, CC, QC is a retired Canadian lawyer and politician, who served as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada from June 30 to September 17, 1984. Turner held the office of Prime Minister for 79 days, the second shortest tenure in Canadian history after Charles Tupper...
.
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 ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
in 1999 for the
Liberal Party of CanadaThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party sits between the centre-left and centre of the Canadian political spectrum. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since the 2006 federal election...
. 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 CanadaThe Order of Canada is an honour for merit that is, within the Canadian system of honours, the highest such order administered by the Governor General-in-Council, on behalf of the Queen of Canada. Created in 1967, to coincide with the centennial of Canadian...
. He is a past president of the
Canadian Jewish CongressThe Canadian Jewish Congress is one of the main lobby groups for the Jewish community in the country, although it often competes with the more conservative B'nai Brith Canada in that regard. At present, the presidents of the CJC is Mark Freiman. Its past co-presidents are Sylvain Abitbol and Rabbi...
.
Human rights activity
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, he was appointed special advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the International Criminal Court.
He is considered an expert on
international lawPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states, analogous entities, such as the Holy See, and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
and
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
. As an international human rights lawyer, Cotler served as counsel to former prisoners of conscience
Nelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, who held office from 1994–99. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing Umkhonto...
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 SharanskyNatan Sharansky is a former Soviet spy, human rights activist, Israeli politician and author....
, who was imprisoned in the Soviet gulag for Jewish activism. After his release, Sharansky went on to become Israeli Deputy Prime Minister.
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, an
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
ian democracy activist imprisoned by the Egyptian government, was represented by Cotler and acquitted in 2003. He acted as counsel to
Maher ArarMaher Arar is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who resides in Canada. He is famous for the outcry resulting from his deportation by the United States government to Syria. Arar has claimed he was tortured while in Syria...
during part of Arar's imprisonment and supported demands for a public inquiry. He has also defended both Palestinians and
IsraelisIsraelis , are citizens or nationals of the modern state of Israel. Israel is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds including most numerously Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Druze, Circassians, and others...
against their own governments, and participated in a minor role in the
Camp DavidThe Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The two agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by United States President Jimmy...
peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.
In 1986 he was chief counsel to the Canadian Jewish Congress at the
Deschênes CommissionThe Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, often referred to as the Deschênes Commission was established by the government of Canada in February 1985 to investigate claims that Canada had become a haven for Nazi war criminals...
of Inquiry on War Criminals.
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
http://www.canadianliberty.bc.ca/liberty-vs-security/index.html. 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
http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/news/sp/2005/doc_31398.html.
Cotler presided 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
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=931&Itemid=85 http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/cons/la_al/summary/faq.html.
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
http://www.zerra.net/freemohamed/data2/letter-to-cotler-dec20-2004.php. 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 CanadaThe Federal Court of Canada is a defunct national court of Canada set up to resolve some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction. It consisted of two divisions, a Trial Division and an Appeal Division...
and the proceeding is not "secret". Rather, only evidence deemed to relate to national security is protected from disclosure.
http://www.canlii.org/ca/cas/fca/2004/2004fca421.html Additionally, the Canadian federal court of appeal ruled, in December 2004, that security certificates were fully consistent with the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
http://www.canlii.org/ca/cas/fca/2004/2004fca421.html This decision was appealed to the
Supreme Court of CanadaThe Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system...
. The Supreme Court heard the (related) appeals in June 2006, has reserved its decision.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/06/13/security-certificates.html
Politics
Though he intended his foray into politics to be a brief departure from his academic career; this changed when
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Canada is the primary Minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government of Canada. The office is not outlined in any of the documents that constitute the written portion of the constitution of Canada; executive authority is formally vested in the...
Paul MartinPaul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC is a Canadian politician who was the Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
called upon him to enter Cabinet as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.
He recommended the appointment of numerous women and aboriginal judges, including of two women to the
Supreme Court of CanadaThe Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system...
in August 2004:
Louise CharronThe Honourable Madam Justice Louise Charron is a Canadian jurist. She was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in October, 2004, and is the first native-born Franco-Ontarian Supreme Court judge...
and
Rosalie AbellaThe Honourable Madam Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, FRSC is a Canadian jurist. She was appointed in 2004 to the Supreme Court of Canada, becoming the first Jewish woman to sit on the Canadian Supreme Court bench....
, making the Supreme Court the most gender-equity high court in the world.
Cotler attempted to introduce several bills to decriminalize marijuana.
http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2004/canada-will-reintroduce-bill.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17069-2004Nov1.html
On February 22, 2006, the
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party sits between the centre-left and centre of the Canadian political spectrum. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since the 2006 federal election...
appointed Cotler
Critic for Public Safety and Emergency PreparednessThe Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's domestic security department, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada...
in the
opposition shadow cabinetThe Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet of the 39th Canadian parliament is listed below. Members are drawn from the Liberal Party of Canada, and most are members of their parliamentary caucus...
for the
39th Canadian ParliamentThe 39th Canadian Parliament was in session from April 3, 2006 until September 7, 2008. The membership was set by the 2006 federal election on January 23, 2006, and it has changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections...
. On 18 January 2007, Cotler was appointed Critic for Human Rights by newly elected leader
Stéphane DionStéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from...
In January, 2009, Irwin Cotler was named Special Counsel on Human Rights and International Justice for the Liberal party, under Michael Ignatieff
Views on anti-racism, genocide and anti-Semitism
As Minister of Justice, Cotler tabled Canada's first-ever National Justice Initiative Against Racism, in parallel with the government's National Action Plan Against Racism.
Cotler has also fought against
genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
and
impunityImpunity means "exemption from punishment or loss". In the international law of human rights, it refers to the failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a denial of the victims' right to justice and redress...
. His attempts to bring
NaziNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
war criminals to justice have won praise as has been his founding of all-party Parliamentary groups to bring attention and action to end the genocide in Darfur. Cotler has worked with a group of international jurists to indict Iranian President Ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide under the UN Charter and the Genocide Convention. Cotler released a petition in 2008 entitled “The Danger of a Genocidal and Nuclear Iran: A Responsibility to Prevent Petition.”
Cotler separated six categories of anti-Semitism and found thirteen indices of discrimination against Jews that characterizes the "
new anti-JewishnessNew antisemitism is the concept that a new form of antisemitism has developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, emanating simultaneously from the left, the right, and fundamentalist Islam, and tending to manifest itself as opposition to Zionism and the State of Israel.The concept generally...
".
Irwin Cotler is an Honorary Member of
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
Cotler was re-elected to Parliament in 2008 to represent the Mount Royal riding in Quebec with 55% of the vote.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/map/2008/#79
Family
Cotler's wife, Ariela, is a native of
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
and worked as a legislative assistant to the
LikudLikud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
members of the
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
i
KnessetThe Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Operation of the Knesset:...
from 1967 to 1979.
External links