Administration

President of the Board of Directors of LWBC for the past four years, the Honourable Madam Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court of the country.

Born in Quebec City in 1927, she received her law degree from the Université Laval in 1952 and started practicing as a lawyer that same year with the firm of Bard, L’Heureux, Philippon, Garneau, Tourigny & St-Arnaud. In 1973, she is appointed judge at the Superior Court of Quebec, then acts as Commissioner to the Royal Commission of Inquiries into certain matters relating to the Department of Manpower and Immigration (1973-1976). In 1979, she is promoted to the Court of Appeal of Quebec. And in 1987 she is appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada where she will serve until 2002.

Woman of heart and commitment, she works tirelessly for the defence and promotion of human rights, both while she was on the bench as well as her countless activities outside the courts, notably as president of the International Commission of Jurists (1999-2003), as a member of many committees and organizations (Advisory Council to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Advisory Council to the Privacy Commissioner, International Federation of Women Lawyers etc.) and as a prolific author of articles and conferences. In addition to her numerous awards, honours and honorific doctorates which she merited over the years, she was also appointed Companion of the Order of Canada and Grand officer of the National Order of Quebec.

As indicated by her appointment to the National Order of Quebec, the Honorable Madam Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé « worked for the promotion of the fundamental values of equality, universality and access to justice. She led the way for those with whom she shares a profoundly humanistic vision of social reality and she contributed to the evolution of law in Quebec, in Canada and internationally. She has stood out through her action to abolish social inequalities, to recognize the rights of minorities and to advance family law and the rights of women. Her dissenting opinions, in particular at the Supreme Court level, have launched judicial reform. »
 

Born in Uruguay in 1971, Mr. Baz obtained his bachelor's degree in law from the Université Laval and a Masters in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Mr. Baz is a member of the Québec Bar since 1993.

His professional experience is diverse. After practicing a couple of years in Quebec City, with the firm of Tremblay, Bois, Mignault, Mr. Baz joined the legal department of Hydro-Québec in 1998, where he practiced transactional and commercial law. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Baz advised the public entity and its subsidiary, Hydro-Québec International, in various international transactions in the energy sector. Specifically, he participates in transactions taking place in Peru, Panama, Chile, Senegal and in Guinea.

In 2001, M. Baz joined the legal department of Bell Canada, in its mergers and acquisitions group. He participated in various transactions, including the attempted privatization of BCE Inc., the sale of Bell Canada's directory business to the Yellow Pages Group, the creation of the Bell Aliant income trust, the creation of the Bell Nordiq income trust, the first income trust structure in the telecommunications sector, as well as numerous M&A transactions and acquisitions of private and public entities..

Since 2007, Miguel Baz heads the commercial and IT law group of Bell Canada for the Quebec region. As director of this group, he is responsible for the commercial-legal activities of Bell Canada in Québec, advising mainly the Commercial Markets groups in a variety of commercial transactions.

Having participated in various charitable organizations since the beginning of this career, M. Baz heads the board of directors and the executive committee of Lawyers Without Borders Canada. Since June 2010, he holds the position of president of the Board of Directors of this organization.
 

Iris Almeida-Côté holds a Masters in international law from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM - 2001) as well as a Masters in sociology (1982). For more than 24 years she has worked for governmental and non-governmental organizations in the area of consolidating democratic institutions, promoting the rule of law and good governance.

She held the position of Director of Policies and Programs of Rights and Democracy from 1991 to 2006 in Montréal, Program Officer for the Africa-Canada Partnership from 1988 to 1991 in Ottawa, Assistant Secretary General of CIDSE (Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité) in Brussels from 1986 to 1988 and President of the International Student Movement from 1982 to 1986 in Paris. She is a member of the Intercultural Council of the City of Montreal, of the Steering Committee of the International Studies Institute of Montreal at UQAM, of the Business Women's Network of Quebec and Women’s Executive Network, of the Programs Committee of EQUITAS and President of the Project Selection Committee of Development and Peace for Asia.
 

Jean François Bonin holds the position of legal counsel for Office of La Francophonie, Justice in Official Languages and Legal Dualism, Department of Justice Canada. He handles the policies of legal and judicial cooperation in the francophone region internationally.

Mr. Bonin started as a legal laid lawyer, and then occupied posts where he followed Canada-US relations. Since working in Ottawa, M. Bonin acted as legal counsel in various cases focusing mainly on human rights, international trade and cultural diversity. While working at the International Organization of La Francophonie, from 1996 to 1998, he managed the technical support program for developing countries on legal and electoral issues,

Mr. Bonin published legal articles in various specialized journals and contributed to the book titled The Vienna Conventions on Treat Law published by Bruylant in 2006. He taught, as a lecturer, at the Law Faculty of the University of Ottawa and at the National School for Public Administration.

Jean-François Bonin was President of the Outaouais Bar in 2005-2006. He currently oversees the workgroup studying the international relations policies of the Québec Bar.

Member of the Québec Bar since 1979, M. Bonin graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Sherbrooke. He also holds a Certificate in Advanced European Studies from the Collège d’Europe and a Masters in law from Vrije Universteit Brussel.
 

Pierre Brun completed his legal studies at the Université Laval and holds a Masters degree from the Université de Montréal on the charters and environmental law. Having today a vast experience in labour and administrative law, he continues to be specialized in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms and, more particularly, in issues regarding freedom of association and the right to equality.

Co-founder of Lawyers Without Borders Canada, Mr. Brun participated in numerous missions in Africa and is a member of its board of directors. He is also a member of the board of directors of ProBono Québec, a newly created organization whose objective is to facilitate access to justice in Québec with the assistance of the Bar.

Mr. Brun has been co-author for many years of Alter Ego on the Charters of human rights, published annually by Wilson & Lafleur, and he also published various articles and often takes on the role of lecturer in conferences on these topics.
 

Born in Montreal, Luc Côté has been practicing criminal law for more than 20 years. Since 1994, he has focused on international criminal law. First in Rwanda where he lived for 5 years, investigating the genocide with the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights before joining the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

In 2001 he completed his graduate studies in international law at the Graduate Institute of Development and International Studies in Geneva. He worked as legal counsel at the Crimes Against Humanity And War Crimes Program of the federal Department of Justice in Ottawa before being appointed Prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2002, a position which he occupied for 3 years until 2006. Thereafter, he was appointed Executive Director of the Independent Special Commission of Inquiry for Timor-Leste, put in place by the United Nations. Today he is a consultant for the International Center for Transitional Justice.
 

Fannie Lafontaine is a lawyer, professor at the Law Faculty of the Université Laval and member of the Institut québécois des hautes études internationales.

Before joining the Université Laval, Mme. Lafontaine held the position of adviser and specialist in human rights with the executive committee of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, assistant to the President and specialist in human rights with the International Commission for Inquiry on Darfour, lawyer with the Centre for global justice (Justiça Global) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, clerk for Mme Justice Louise Arbour at the Supreme Court of Canada and litigation lawyer with the firm McCarthy Tétrault in Montréal.

She graduated with honours from the University of Cambridge (2004) and the Université Laval (1999). She published primarily in the fields of international criminal law and human rights. She is a member of the Québec Bar (2000) and of the editorial committee of the Journal of International Criminal Justice.
 

Graduate from the Law Faculty of the Université Laval in 1973, Mr. L’Anglais spent the greater part of his career at the Québec Department of International Relations (MRI). His career sends him to Paris, then to Quebec City, with the Africa-Middle East Department, overseeing the regions of Maghreb and Palestine, before being appointed to the Québec General Delegation in Düsseldorf, in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Upon returning to Quebec City, he participates in amending the adoption law under the auspices of the Secretariat of International Adoption. He then oversees the federal, provincial and international relations of the Ministère de la Main d’œuvre et de la sécurité du revenu. Once admitted to the public officials' education program for executives, he rejoins the MRI as part of its Legal services department and is called to the Québec Bar in 1995. Towards the end of 1996, he goes to the Latin America section of the MRI where he will be appointed Québec Delegate to Buenos Aires.

Upon returning to Canada, he is successively Director of international affairs of the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications, Assistant director for administration and finance with the Institut de l’énergie et de l’environnement des pays francophones then Immigration Commissioner for the City of Québec. He has also coordianted, as head of mission, the 400th anniversary of Québec within the department of protocol of the MRI, an event of international magnitude for the province. Today, Mr. L’Anglais, after many years in the civil service, manage his own legal practice in immigration law.

Mr. L’Anglais is a member of Lawyers Without Borders Canada (LWBC) since 2004. He is a member of the board of directors, of the executive committee and actively contributes to the Colombia Program, having completed two missions in this country on behalf of LWBC.
 

Mme. Madeleine Lemieux holds a law degree from the Université Laval (1973) and a Masters in law from the Université de Montréal. Called to the Barreau in 1974, she practices primarily in the field of administrative law, agricultural law, labour law and municipal law with the firm Paradis Lemieux Francis in Bedford.

Mme. Lemieux acted as counsel for public, municipal and governmental institutions. She is an accredited mediator in civil and commercial law and is an arbiter. She presided over the workgroup created by the Quebec Department of Justice on reforming the compensation regime for victims of criminal acts.

Mme. Lemieux led a number of training sessions for members of administrative tribunals at the Ministère du conseil exécutif, at the Council of Canadian Administrative Tribunals, at the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice and at the Conférence des juges administratifs du Québec. She teaches courses on ethics, deontology and administrative law at the l’École de formation professionnelle du Barreau.

She is the author of the book " Tribunaux administratifs du Québec - Règles et législation annotées " published in 2002. Mme. Lemieux is also very active within the Québec Bar. She is notably a member of the Disciplinary Board of the Québec Bar, she presided over the Comité du Fonds d'indemnisation of the Québec Bar and was a member of the Comité d'accès à la profession. She is a member of the Comité sur la formation continue and of the Comité sur la révision du code de déontologie.

In 2005-2006, she was the President of the Québec Bar. Mme. Lemieux was also a president of the Conseil des services essentiels during many years.