For Immediate Release
August 15, 2008
QUÉBEC CITY – Montreal lawyer Yves Fortier, C.C., Q.C., QC, LLD, has been selected as the recipient of the 2008 Walter S. Tarnopolsky Human Rights Award recognizing his outstanding contributions to domestic and international human rights.
Fortier is chair and senior partner of the Ogilvy Renault law firm. He has served in many important positions during his distinguished legal career: as a trial lawyer, pleading major cases before Canadian and international courts and arbitration panels; as counsel to several Royal Commissions and Commissions of Inquiry in Canada; as an arbitrator, chairing or arbitrating on international tribunals; and, as a diplomat, serving in numerous capacities at the United Nations, including as Canada’s UN ambassador.
“Yves Fortier is a great legal mind whose involvement in human rights has been good for Canada and the world,” said Benoît Lussier, President of the Canadian Bar Association, Québec Branch, and a member of the Selection Committee of the International Commission of Jurists (Canadian Section). “Fortier’s passion for the law has made him an invaluable force in the area of human rights and an exceptional representative for Canada on the international stage.”
From 1988 to 1992, Fortier was Canada's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. In 1989 and 1990, he was the country’s Representative to the Security Council of the United Nations. In October 1989, he was President of the Security Council.
Among the many international bodies in which he has been involved, Fortier has chaired and arbitrated tribunals constituted by the International Arbitration Court of the International Chamber of Commerce, the London Court of International Arbitration, and the American Arbitration Association. He has also held prominent positions with the International Court of Justice, the ICSID Panel of Conciliators and Arbitrators, the LCIA, and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Court. From 1984 to 1989, he was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.
Fortier was national president of the Canadian Bar Association in 1982. In 1994, he became a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Born in Québec City, Fortier received his B.A. from the Université de Montréal in 1955, his B.C.L. from McGill University in 1958, and his B.Litt. from Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar, in 1960. In 1961, he was called to the Québec bar. He was appointed as a Queen's Counsel in 1976.
The award will be presented Honourable Michèle Rivet at the CBA Canadian Judges Forum session in Room 2105 in the Convention Centre at 12:00 p.m. on August 18 as part of the Canadian Legal Conference in Québec City.
The Walter S. Tarnopolsky Award recognizes a resident of Canada who has made an outstanding contribution to domestic or international human rights.
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
- 30 -
CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Aug. 15-19, Québec City Convention Centre, room 2103, Tel: 418-649-5218; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.
|
