Ottawa

Your eminent jurists

The office of Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has announced the three eminent jurists charged with arbitrating for the committee of MPs reviewing Afghan detainee documents. They, with their various letters of significance are: the Honourable Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, C.C., G.O.Q., the Honourable Frank Iacobucci, C.C., Q.C., and the Honourable Donald I. Brenner, Q.C..

Official biographical details after the jump. The NDP has already scheduled a news conference for later this afternoon in response, perhaps for the purposes of restating their objections to the involvement of Justice Iacobucci. 

The Honourable Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, C.C., G.O.Q., was appointed to the Superior Court of Quebec in February 1973. Madame L’Heureux-Dubé was elevated to the Quebec Court of Appeal in October 1979, and was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, on April 15, 1987. She retired from the Court on July 1, 2002. Madame L’Heureux-Dubé was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada on May 8, 2003 and is a past President of the International Commission of Jurists. She is a member of several International legal associations and has published extensively in the areas of International law and human rights.

The Honourable Frank Iacobucci, C.C., Q.C., joined Torys LLP as Counsel in September 2004 after retiring as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, Mr. Iacobucci had been Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada and Deputy Minister of Justice following a distinguished career in academia. From September 2004 to July 2005, he also served as Interim President of the University of Toronto. Mr. Iacobucci has received numerous awards, honours and other recognitions in Canada, the United States, England and Italy. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada.

The Honourable Donald I. Brenner, Q.C. was a judge of the British Columbia Supreme Court for eight years and then its Chief Justice for nine years, before joining the legal firm Farris, Vaughan, Wills and Murphy, in September, 2009, as Senior Counsel. Prior to joining the B.C. Supreme Court in 1992, Mr. Brenner had a distinguished career as a practising lawyer who specialized in the fields of aviation, professional indemnity, and products liability law.

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