Think about it – those of us in public sector jobs are truly privileged.

First, most of us are drawn to public service in order to contribute to the greater well-being of our community. Being entrusted to write the laws, regulations, and bylaws that contribute to the well-being of Canadians is both a heavy responsibility and an enormous opportunity to leave on lasting imprint on society. As we bury ourselves in our daily tasks to accomplish these goals, we sometimes lose sight of exactly how valuable we are to the process.

Second, we get to work in stimulating, ever-evolving, challenging work environments. There is no question that life in public sector law is not static. As the cycles of elections unfold, we are, as public servants, obliged to fulfill and support the policy orientations and objectives of our political masters. We don’t set the government’s agenda, but we are required to ensure governmental priorities are advanced through our efforts. How extraordinarily lucky we are to be able to contribute to evolution of society through our legal and policy advice.

Third, we get to work with like-minded colleagues. The high level of professionalism that I have witnessed over the years and the commitment and dedication of public sector lawyers constantly makes me proud to be part of this segment of the legal profession. I know I continually strive to be a better lawyer because of the high standards set by both my superiors and my peers.

Fourth, we have the opportunity to be associated with an institution that provides us with multiple benefits and a sense of belonging – the Canadian Bar Association. We can enhance our legal skills, foster professional relations, and maintain long-lasting personal friendships.

Lester B. Pearson said, “no other country is in a better position than Canada to go ahead with the evolution of a national purpose devoted to all that is good and noble and excellent in the human spirit.”

As municipal, provincial, territorial, and federal public sector lawyers, we are very much at the forefront of working daily to pursue this lofty ideal.

We are indeed a lucky and privileged group.

On the north door of Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium there is inscribed a quote by Augustus Caesar (as recorded by the Roman historian Suetonius) which reads, “He found the City built of brick – left it built of marble.” That inscription was there in 1979 when I took my bar admission courses at the Auditorium and remains there to this day. Little did I know that in some small way, my soon-to-be career as a public sector lawyer was later to echo these words.

Mark Berlin, Chair, Public Sector Lawyers' Forum (left), with Don Manderscheid, Q.C., recipient of the 2007 John Tait Award of Excellence

My legal career in the public sector began during my articles of clerkship with the then-law firm of Milner Steer (now Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP). During this period, as a result of my working on City of Edmonton files, I came to know and appreciate what a municipality actually did. In this sense, I soon realized that a municipality not only built roads and provided street lighting, but through its many cultural, sport and recreational projects, enriches the lives of the citizens within and about its boundaries. It was then that I knew that I wanted to be a part of this enrichment. Although private practice was enticing, my calling was in the public sector and, if possible, with the City of Edmonton. For that reason, in 1981, it was without hesitation that I accepted employment with the City of Edmonton’s Law Department.

During the course of my 26-plus years as legal counsel for the City of Edmonton, I have had the privilege of being involved in some of the largest land development projects, cultural, sport and recreation developments, and international sport endeavors that the City of Edmonton has undertaken or to which it has been a party. Looking back, one would assume that my involvement in such international sport events as the 1983 Universiade Games, the 2001 IAAF World Championships in Athletics, the 2001 International Triathalon Union World Championships, and the 2005 World IMGA Masters Games are to be considered the ultimate in career success. Yet in reality, it was, and is, my day-to-day legal services that continue to be my primary source of gratification. Tasks such as the annual property tax public auction have enabled me to personally impact the lives of many citizens of Edmonton in a positive manner. I cannot over-emphasize the self-fulfillment that I have known when, due to my personal efforts, an individual’s home was taken off the tax sale list because I found the legal means to assist that individual in paying their outstanding tax arrears.

As a public sector lawyer, one’s employer most likely will be an order of government or an affiliate or subsidiary of  an order of government. Given this fact, the ultimate client is the citizens to whom that order of government is responsible. The extent of this responsibility may entail either a municipal, provincial or federal sphere. As a consequence, when discharging their legal services, a public sector lawyer has the opportunity to serve a particular segment of society.

In turn, this interaction has the potential of having a positive influence on the beneficiary of these services – the citizens that compose the society. This has definitely been so in my personal case, vis-à-vis the citizens of Edmonton. If only for this reason, I wholeheartedly encourage a legal career in the public sector. Still, this is not to say that I would try to dissuade someone from practicing in the private sector. Indeed, it must be remembered that in most instances, a legal transaction involving an order of government will require the services of a public sector lawyer and their counterpart in the private sector. One is not better than the other, and both are equally essential to the successful completion of the transaction.

Last year, I was the recipient of the Canadian Bar Association’s John Tait Award of Excellence. I first became acquainted with this award in 1999, when the award’s name had just been changed from the Inukshuk Award of Excellence. This name change was brought about for the purpose of honoring the late John Tait, who was an outstanding and dedicated public sector lawyer. Apparently, when the award was established in 1998, the intention of the Canadian Bar Association was to bring public awareness to the accomplishments of those members of the Canadian legal profession who practice law in the public sector.

At that time, I recall that in my mind, it seemed fitting that the Canadian Bar Association would have the foresight and initiative to choose to honor those members of Canada’s legal community who practice law in the public sector. So few times, I thought, do members of the public sector attain notoriety or acknowledgement for their contribution to the legal profession, despite the fact that public sector lawyers form a significant percentage of the legal practitioners in Canada. For that reason, I commend the Canadian Bar Association for its initiative.

From my experience, a career in the public sector can be – and is – very rewarding. When I reflect on the many projects that I have been associated with as legal counsel for the City of Edmonton, I relish a certain degree of self-fulfillment in the knowledge that in some small way I have left my mark on this beautiful city I call home. Again, without hesitation, I would strongly encourage any person who wants to make a difference in their community, province or country, to seek out a career as a public sector lawyer.

Being the 2007 recipient of the John Tait Award of Excellence is the most memorable experience of my legal career. It is the culmination of all that I could strive to be as a lawyer and is to be considered the high point of my career. I am truly grateful to have been chosen for this most prestigious award, and to follow in the footsteps of the respected previous award recipients is both humbling and gratifying.

The Public Sector Lawyers' Forum is seeking nominations for the John Tait Award of Excellence, which is presented annually to honour, recognize and celebrate accomplishments of public sector lawyers in Canada.

I encourage you to submit nominations prior to the May 2nd deadline.

For further information

Introduction

I am not the first to journey from the Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin Island, Nunavut), to Scotland. There is proof to the contrary at the Aberdeen University Medical School. They have a kayak on display there dating to the mid-1800s, reportedly the one used by Inuluapik (a.k.a. Eenoolooapik) on the river Dee to demonstrate the skills and technology of his people.

I will tell you first about Inuluapik's adventures, then mine.

Inuluapik encountered sea captain William Penny on Durban Island in 1839. Penny was on his way back to Aberdeen after a summer spent fishing in Baffin Bay. The mid-century European demand for whales was escalating at this time, and Penny became fascinated by young Inuluapik's tales of Tinujjiarvik, a vast inlet, rich with many whales.

Inuluapik drew a detailed sketch of Tinujjiarvik for Penny. Recent analysis affirms that Inuluapik accurately presented major coastal features, caribou hunting areas, occupied sites, the number of dwellings at each site and, crucially, whaling grounds. Penny was moved to invite Inuluapik to accompany him to Aberdeen for the winter.

History credits Penny with the "rediscovery" of Cumberland Sound the following year, after more than 200 years of navigational oblivion. After whalers began over-wintering in the 1850s, it became the most important whaling site in the eastern Arctic.

The rediscovery also affected the Inuit. Whaling in Cumberland Sound resulted in Inuit access to metal, guns, and many new kinds of boats, tools, and trade goods. Many Inuit of the region were employed as pilots, crewmen, hunters, dog drivers, and seamstresses. By the end of the century, when bowhead stocks became depleted, British free trading companies were in regular contact with Inuit, Inuit migration and settlement patterns had been profoundly altered, and Anglican missionaries had introduced – among other things – an Inuktitut writing system based on syllabics. Canada had established detachments of the North West Mounted Police by 1903, and other federal services and policies quickly followed.

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On June 27, 2007, the Office of the Assistant Judge Advocate General (Prairie Region), headquartered at the Air Division, hosted the Manitoba Bar Association’s Public Sector Lawyers Forum meeting.

Pictured in front of the Battle of Britain Tapestry are Adrienne Edmunds, Mary Ann Thompson, Glenn Jones, Marlo Jurkowski, Darrin Davis, Lt.-Cmdr. Michele Geiger-Wolf, Julie Frederickson, and Maj. Renee Wickler

As well as being a chance to meet withother lawyers advising in the public sphere, attendees also had the opportunity to become familiar with 1 Canadian Air Division/Canadian Norad Region Headquarters and to learn about the region’s vital role in maintaining Canadian, North American, and international security.

As part of this learning experience, attendees had the rare honour of touring the Air Operations Centre (AOC), the “war room” which oversees all air component military operations. The AOC was the site of the Air Force’s response on 9-11, and continues to be the command-and-control centre for the monitoring and defence of Canadian airspace. There was also a guided tour of the Air Command Museum’s artifacts and informative displays relating to Air Force service, including an exhibit on Flight Officer Andrew Mynarski, a Canadian Lancaster gunner who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in the Second World War.

The meeting focused on the election of officers and a roundtable exchange discussing the effects of the mandatory Continuing Legal Education proposal in the public sector, with concerns identified unique to the practice of public sector lawyers – for example, the difficulties inherent when counsel are employed in jurisdictions other than their place of call. As well, those present took part in an exchange on the ethical dilemmas arising when the interests of a particular department are at variance with the public interest.

Overall the event was a great learning opportunity for all involved.

Introduction

The views expressed here are exclusively those of the author and are entirely non-partisan. This article was prepared as an academic paper, not on behalf of the House of Commons, its members or its administration.

The Parliament of Canada, a creature of the Constitution Act, 1867, s. 17, is the central institution of Canada’s political system. Inherently, as well as flowing from the constitutional characterization of Canada as having “a constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom,” this institution and the Houses it comprises are both political and legal in nature.

Despite the fact that in our democracy, Parliament is the highest political deliberative body of the nation(s), the legal aspect of this institution should not be underestimated. The more recent constitutional text of 1982 reinforced the necessity of considering the legal nature of our institutions by affirming that “Canada is founded upon principles that recognize…the rule of law.”

This point was further underscored by the Supreme Court of Canada in its Quebec secession reference decision, where it listed the rule of law as one of the fundamental elements of the Canadian constitutional regime. Within the overall context of Parliament, this article will deal with the work of lawyers in the House of Commons, though the reader may wish to transpose some of the realities set out here to such work at the Senate.

An institution which is legal in nature, even if only in part, needs legal advisors. The House of Commons itself recognizes this in the bylaws of the Board of Internal Economy, where it defines the mandate and jurisdiction of its law clerk and parliamentary counsel.

The nature of the work of the law clerk and of the parliamentary counsel who assist him (such as the author) is particular among varieties of legal practice in that it reflects the nature of the House of Commons itself. First, it takes place in a political environment. Moreover, it deals in large measure with clients who are political actors and therefore public figures constantly in the limelight. Its greatest interest is that it entails legal issues which are intrinsically linked to democratic governing and to the political life of the country.

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