Membership of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs (LCJC)

43^rd PARLIAMENT, 2^nd SESSION (September 2020 - Present)

Chair

Mobina S. B. Jaffer (ISG - British Columbia)

Deputy Chairs

Denise Batters (C - Saskatchewan)
Larry W. Campbell (CSG - British Columbia)

Members

Conservative Party of Canada (C)

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu (Quebec - La Salle)
Claude Carignan (Quebec - Mille Isles)

Independent Senators Group (ISG)

Gwen Boniface (Ontario)
Yvonne Boyer (Ontario)
Brent Cotter (Saskatchewan)
Renée Dupuis (Quebec - The Laurentides)
Judith Keating (New Brunswick)

Progressive Senate Group (PSG)

Pierre J. Dalphond (Quebec - De Lorimier)

Canadian Senator Group (CSG)

Scott Tannas (Alberta)

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Chair of the LCJC Committee

Profession:

• Earned a Bachelor of Laws from London University in London, England in 1972. Senator Jaffer has also completed the Executive Development program at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia;
• Practiced law at the firm Dohm, Jaffer and Jeraj since 1978;
• Appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1998.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on June 13, 2001.

Special Interests: She is the first Muslim senator, the first African-born senator, and the first senator of South Asian descent. She has served as Canada’s Special Envoy for Peace in Sudan from 2002 to 2006. From 2002 to 2005, she chaired the Canadian Committee on Women, Peace, and Security. She has previously chaired a study on the sexual exploitation of children in Canada and the need for national action. Women’s rights and children’s rights are central to Senator Jaffer’s advocacy.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration;
• Official Languages;
• Chair of the Subcommittee on Diversity;
• Subcommittee on Communications.

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Deputy Chair of the LCJC Committee

Profession:

• Holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Regina and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan;
• Admitted to the Saskatchewan Bar in 1995, and was in private practice in Saskatchewan until 2007;
• Appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2008. From November 2007 until June 2012, she was the Chief of Staff to Saskatchewan’s Minister of Justice.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on January 25, 2013.

Special Interests: Senator Batters is a strong supporter of mental health and suicide prevention. Senator Batters sponsored government Bill C-36 in 2014, which has now become law, titled the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (the federal government’s prostitution law).

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament.

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Deputy Chair of the LCJC Committee

Profession:

• Holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from City University in Vancouver;
• Worked as a steelworker in Hamilton in the 1960s, until 1969, when he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He later joined the RCMP drug squad in 1973;
• Campbell transitioned into death investigation, establishing Vancouver’s first District Coroner’s Office in 1981 and becoming the Chief Coroner for British Columbia in 1996;
• Appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1998;
• In 2002 he was elected Mayor by the citizens of Vancouver under the banner of the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), where he spearheaded the approval and establishment of North America’s first legal safe injection site.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate in August 2, 2005.

Special Interests: Senator Campbell has worked on drug policy, mental health, and aboriginal issues.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration;
• Fisheries and Oceans;
• Subcommittee on Human Resources;
• Subcommittee on Committee Budgets;
• Subcommittee on Long Term Vision and Plan.

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Profession:

• Holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in public administration;
• He worked for more than 30 years in Quebec’s public service as a senior official and deputy minister;
• In November 2004, Senator Boisvenu and three other fathers founded the Murdered or Missing Persons' Families' Association (MMPFA). This association supports and advises families who have suffered the sudden loss of a loved one;
• He is co-founder of Le Nid, a shelter for abused women in Val-d’Or, and was a member of several boards and humanitarian organizations in the Eastern Townships;
• On April 14, 2008, his book, Survivre à l’innommable et reprendre le pouvoir sur sa vie was published by Éditions de l’Homme.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on March 3, 2010.

Special Interests: In June 2002, his eldest daughter was murdered by a repeat offender; it is then that he began championing the rights of the families of murdered or missing individuals, so that the justice system grants them the same rights as criminals. He has worked to strengthen victim legislation and victims’ rights in Canada’s judicial system. He passed the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights during his term in office.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Deputy Chair of National Security and Defence;
• Transport and Communications.

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Profession:

• Holds a law degree from the Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, and a graduate degree in public law from the Université de Montréal;
• He has worked as a lawyer since his admission to the Quebec Bar in 1988;
• He was elected mayor of Saint-Eustache in November 2000, where he was mayor for nine years.
• From 2005 to 2009, he was vice-president of both the Conseil inter-municipal de transport des Laurentides and the Association des Conseils intermunicipaux de transport du Québec. He was appointed president of the Conseil sur les services policers’ du Québec in 2008, an advisory body created to advise the Quebec Minister of Public Security on all policing matters;
• In 2010, Claude Carignan joined Dufresne Hébert Comeau Avocats as counsel, while being a Senator. In 2017, Senator Carignan was appointed Senior Vice President and Head Corporate Affairs with Réseau Sélection;
• He was Senate Leader of the Opposition from November 2015 to March 2017.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on August 27, 2009.

Special Interests: In his work as a lawyer, he specialized in civil litigation, public law, labour relations, and health and social services law.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Deputy Chair of Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources;
• Official Languages;
• Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration;
• Subcommittee on Committee Budgets.

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Profession:

• She became the first woman appointed as Commissioner of the OPP, and the first female President of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police;
• She served for three years as the Deputy Chief Inspector of Ireland’s Garda Síochána Inspectorate, after which she took on the role of Transnational Organized Crime Expert with the United Nations Police Division;
• She served as Commissioner on the Law Commission of Canada for five years, and also served on the Board of Governors of the Law Commission of Ontario from 2011 to 2014;
• She is a long-time member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), where she served as Deputy Executive Director;
• She was the founding President of the Canadian Police Chiefs International Service Agency, a non-profit organization created to address sexual exploitation of children.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on November 10, 2016.

Special Interests: As a police leader, lawyer, and educator, Senator Boniface is globally recognized for bringing justice and equity to a wide range of issues and having a profound impact on women in policing. She has worked to repair relationships with First Nations communities, initiating many reforms to promote Aboriginal policing.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Chair of National Security and Defence.

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Profession:

• Senator Yvonne Boyer is a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario with her ancestral roots in the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and the Red River;
• She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Law Society of Saskatchewan and received her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan, and her Master of Laws and Doctor of Laws from the University of Ottawa;
• In 2013, she completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship with the Indigenous Peoples’ Health Research Centre at the University of Regina. In 2018, she received a Honorary Doctorate in Education from Nipissing University;
• She has spent over 21 years practicing law, but started her professional life as a nurse;
• In addition to running her own law practice, she was the Associate Director for the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa, and a part time professor in the Faculty of Law.
• She is a former Canadian Human Rights Commissioner.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on March 15, 2018.

Special Interests: She has published extensively on the topics of Indigenous health and how Aboriginal rights and treaty law intersects on the health of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Human Rights;
• Scrutiny of Regulations (Joint House and Senate Committee).

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Profession:

• Holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing from the University of Saskatchewan, as well as a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from Dalhousie University;
• A former dean of the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan and one of the original professors and writers in the field of legal ethics in Canada, he is a member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan and the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society;
• Prior to pursuing his academic career, Senator Cotter served as the province’s Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General;
• He currently chairs the Government of Saskatchewan’s Public Complaints Commission, and is a founding member of the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on January 31, 2020.

Special Interests: He is one of Canada’s foremost legal ethicists, with extensive experience in public service and the law.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• National Security and Defence;
• Ethics and Conflict of Interest for Senators;
• Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources.

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Profession:

• Member of the Barreau du Québec and specializes in human rights, law in regard to Aboriginal peoples and administrative law. She is also accredited in civil and commercial mediation with the Barreau du Québec;
• She served as Vice-President of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse du Québec from August 2011 to October 2016, and was appointed Honorary Witness of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada;
• She was involved in the research program of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and produced a number of studies for the commission between 1992 and 1995;
• She was a member of the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel in 2000 and served as a commissioner with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (1989-1995);
• Over the past 30 years, she has been involved both professionally and as a volunteer in training initiatives for women and women’s organizations.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on November 10, 2016.

Special Interests: Senator Dupuis has significant experience in bilateral and multilateral negotiations with the federal and provincial governments. In her time as Commissioner at the Canadian Human Rights Commission, she took a special interest in discrimination against women and sexual harassment.

Current Member of the other following Senate committee(s):

• Deputy Chair of Audit and Oversight;
• Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament.

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Profession:

• Holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ottawa, as well as a Bachelor of Laws from the Université de Moncton;
• She served in a variety of roles throughout her career, including as Chief Legislative Counsel, Chief Legal Advisor to the Premier, New Brunswick’s First Nations Representative, and a provincial chair of the working group on Truth and Reconciliation;
• She was the first woman to serve as Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of New Brunswick, and in 1993, she became the founder and first president of New Brunswick’s Women in Law;
• She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2002;
• At the time of her appointment, Senator Keating was the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Bar Association’s Solicitor’s Journal; a member of the Canadian Bar Association’s sub-committee on judicial issues; a member and past chair of the Associations of Parliamentary Counsel and Legislative Counsel in Canada and a member of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative and Parliamentary Counsel.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on January 30, 2020.

Special Interests: During her career, Senator Keating worked to promote the equal status of the English and French languages in New Brunswick, and devoted herself to ensuring the equal and just treatment of women in the legal profession.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Transport and Communications.

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Profession:

• Holds a law degree from the University of Montreal and a M. Phil. in Philosophy, Politics and Law from Oxford University, U.K.;
• He began his professional career in Ottawa (clerk to the Supreme Court of Canada, then legislative advisor to the Privy Council) before moving to Montreal to join a national firm, where he practiced corporate and business law;
• In 1995, he was appointed a Justice of the Quebec Superior Court. In 2002, he was elevated to the Quebec Court of Appeal.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on June 6, 2018.

Special Interests: He has written leading judgements on language rights, freedom of association, freedom of speech, treaty rights, separation of powers, class action, sharing of parental responsibilities and abuse of judicial process.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Deputy Chair of Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament;
• Medical Assistance in Dying (Special Joint House and Senate Committee);
• National Security and Defence.

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Profession:

• Founder of Western Financial Group Inc. (“Western”), having served as its CEO from 1996 to 2014;
• Founding member and Leader of the Canadian Senators Group, and has made Senate Reform one of his key priorities;
• He remains an advisor at Western Financial Group. He is also founder and CEO of Western Investment Company of Canada, which invests in enterprises headquartered in western Canada.

Parliamentary Service: appointed to Senate on March 22, 2013.

Special Interests: He remains active in the western Canadian business community.

Current Member of the following other Senate committee(s):

• Deputy Chair of Ethics and Conflict of Interest for Senators;
• Deputy Chair of Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration;
• Banking, Trade and Commerce;
• Aboriginal Peoples;
• Human Rights;
• Subcommittee on Diversity;
• Subcommittee on Communications;
• Subcommittee on Senate Estimates.