Louise Arbour

Arbour has been a Supreme Court justice and the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. Now, she’s staring down her most formidable challenge yet.

Top marks for these scientists, politicians, judge and author

The case of the two Louises

Gen. Michel Gauthier made reference Wednesday afternoon to the Globe and Mail’s reporting in April 2007 as to when he first became aware of allegations of torture. Without the transcript of his comments it’s unclear—from my memory and what’s being reported elsewhere—how precisely he qualified that statement, whether he was referring to specific allegations of general torture, specific allegations related to detainees transferred by Canadian Forces, or something else entirely.

It’s been an odd experience working on my story that appears in this week’s print edition of Maclean’s. Some of the Canadians I have talked to about his incredibly important subject — freedom of expression — seem to lose their love of freedom and their s**t their cool when confronted by two words: Ezra. Levant. I spoke to one intellectual luminary whose ability to make a rational argument not to mention his sense of decorum suddenly deserted him and the best he could muster at the mention of Levant was to compare him to a walking piece of male anatomy. Fine. I get it. A lot of people don’t like Levant and a lot of people disagree with him and a lot of people are offended that he published the Muhammed cartoons in his magazine. How can I put this simply? With apologies to the band: This.is.Bigger.Than.Ezra.

Must-reads: Colby Cosh on the NFL invasion; John Ivison on immigration reform.

Maxime Bernier’s statement on the day Louise Arbour announced her retirement from the UN human rights commission. “On behalf of the Government of Canada, I thank Louise Arbour for her four years of service to the international community as High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations. Madame Arbour’s career in Canada and abroad has been devoted to expanding the concepts of human rights and fundamental justice. As High Commissioner, she championed causes that had languished at the margins of the human rights work of the United Nations. She was steadfast in the pursuit of her vision of an independent High Commissioner who acts in new and energetic ways to increase the presence of her office around the world. Her appointment reflected the proud tradition of Canadian support for the United Nations and its work, a tradition that our government intends to strengthen in the future.”