Louise Arbour

The Honourable Louise Arbour CC GOQ
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
In office September 15, 1999 – June 30, 2004
Nominated by	Jean Chrétien
Preceded by	Peter Cory
Succeeded by	Rosalie Abella/Louise Charron
Personal details
Born	February 10, 1947 (1947-02-10) Montreal, Quebec

Louise Arbour, CC, GOQ (born February 10, 1947) is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She has since July 2009 served as President and CEO of the International Crisis Group.

Early life

Born in Montreal, Quebec to Bernard Arbour and Rose Ravary, the owners of a hotel chain. She attended convent school, during which time her parents divorced. As editor of the school magazine, she earned a reputation for irreverence.

In 1967, she graduated from College Regina Assumpta, and proceeded to the Université de Montréal where she completed an LL.L. with distinction in 1970. She became the Law Clerk for Mr. Justice Louis-Philippe Pigeon of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1971-1972 while completing graduate studies at the Faculty of Law (Civil Section) of the University of Ottawa. She was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1971 and to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1977. She was made a Companion to the Order of Canada in 2007 "for her contributions to the Canadian justice system and for her dedication to the advancement of human rights throughout the world". She was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 2009. She was made a Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour in 2011.

She has received many honorary Degrees, including Doctor of Civil Laws from the University of Western Ontario in June 2000, Doctor of Humane Letters from Mount Saint Vincent University in May 2001, and Doctor of Laws degrees from the University of British Columbia in November 2001, the University of Waterloo in October 2006, in June 2009 from the University of Alberta and University of Guelph, and from Simon Fraser University in October 2009.

She has three grown-up children: Emilie, Patrick and Catherine Taman.

Legal career

From 1972-73, Louise Arbour was research officer for the Law Reform Commission of Canada. She then taught at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, first as a Lecturer (1974), then as Assistant Professor (1975), Associate Professor (1977–1987), and finally as Associate Professor and Associate Dean (1987). She also was Vice-President of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association until her appointment to the Supreme Court of Ontario (High Court of Justice) in 1987 and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1990.

In 1995, Madam Louise Arbour was appointed as President of a Commission of Inquiry, under the Inquiries Act, for the purpose of investigating and reporting on events at the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ontario, following allegations by prisoners of abuse.

In 1996, she was appointed Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. In that capacity she indicted then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević for war crimes, the first time a serving head of State was called to account before an international court. Also indicted were Milan Milutinović, President of the Republic of Serbia, Nikola Šainović, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Dragoljub Ojdanić, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Vlajko Stojiljković, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.

In 1999, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed Arbour to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Throughout her career, Arbour has published in the area of criminal procedure and criminal law, in both French and English. At various times, she has served as an editor for the Criminal Reports, the Canadian Rights Reporter, and the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.

Arbour has been awarded honorary doctorates by twenty-seven universities. In 2005, Arbour was awarded the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, along with Justice Richard Goldstone, in recognition of her work on the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

She is also the subject of a 2005 fact-based Canadian-German made-for-television movie, entitled Hunt For Justice which follows her quest to indict Bosnian war criminals. Arbour was played by Canadian actress Wendy Crewson.

Peel District School Board has named a Brampton Ontario secondary school after Ms. Arbour.

See also

• Reasons of the Supreme Court of Canada by Justice Arbour
• The Canadian Television TV movie Hunt for Justice (2005) is a docudrama account of Mrs. Arbour's work as prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

External links

• United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Profile of Louise Arbour
• CBC.ca News: Arbour to take UN human rights post
• Supreme Court of Canada: Judges of the Court
• Address to Convocation at Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Louise Arbour (HCDH) (fr)
• Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor of International War Crimes Tribunal, Interview
• Profile at JURIST
• CBC podcast: Louise Arbour interviewed by Carol Off for the radio show As It Happens, aired March 21, 2008
• Louise Arbour's Account on Twitter