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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 2001

SASKATOON - Michael Greene of Calgary and Gordon Maynard of Vancouver have been named joint recipients of the Canadian Bar Association's 2001 Louis St-Laurent Award of Excellence.

"Michael Greene and Gordon Maynard have contributed countless hours to law reform, continuing legal education, and information sharing," says Daphne Dumont, Q.C., President of the Canadian Bar Association. "Their unwavering dedication to CBA activities and their positive leadership have been outstanding."

Both long-serving members of CBA's Citizenship and Immigration Law Section, Mr. Greene and Mr. Maynard spearheaded the Section's response to the major overhaul of Canada's immigration legislation.

While the Citizenship & Immigration Law Section has always been active in law reform issues, the workload has been particularly heavy in recent years. In addition to its regular duties of consultations with Ministerial and Department personnel, responses to proposed regulations and liaisons with two federal Courts and three divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board, this Section has been a continuing contributor and critic throughout the now five-year process for comprehensive reform of the entire Immigration Act and Regulations.

"The legislation is complex and controversial, raising numerous significant issues of public policy, individual and human rights. The Section's briefs and public statements defined the public debate on the proposed law, and these two executive members led the charge," says Ms. Dumont.

"While the Section's response involved participation of numerous members, Mr. Greene and Mr. Maynard are being recognized for exemplifying a spirit of volunteer contribution of skill and time, for their leadership through example, for their commitment to defending principles of administrative fairness and individual rights, and for their professionalism in advocating these issues in the Parliamentary process. The Louis St. Laurent Award for Excellence appropriately recognizes the distinguished and exceptional service of Mr. Greene and Mr. Maynard to the objectives and goals of CBA," says Ms. Dumont.

Mr. Greene is a senior immigration lawyer who practises in all aspects of immigration and citizenship law with the firm of Sherritt Greene in Calgary. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary in 1982. As an active member of the CBA, Mr. Greene served four terms as the Chair of the Southern Alberta Immigration Lawyers Section and eight years on the National executive of the section. He is currently the Chair of the CBA Citizenship and Immigration Law Section.

As a member of the British Columbia Bar Association since 1988, Mr. Maynard has practised immigration law for over 10 years with McCrea & Associates in Vancouver. He has been a member of the provincial CBA Immigration Section Executive from 1993-1995 and 1997-1998, and chaired the Section in 1995, 1996 and 1998-2000. He is currently Secretary of the CBA Citizenship and Immigration Law Section and will become Chair in 2003.

The Louis St-Laurent Award, which takes the form of a bronze statue of the former Prime Minister, recognizes distinguished or exceptional service to the goals of the Canadian Bar Association. The award will be presented at the CBA Council Luncheon on Saturday, Aug. 11 in the Saskatoon Centennial Auditorium, Centennial Hall B during the CBA's Annual Conference in Saskatoon, Aug. 11-15. The event is open to accredited journalists who have registered with the CBA Media Centre.

The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.

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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Aug. 10-15, CBA Media Centre in Saskatoon at the Saskatoon Centennial Auditorium, Executive Room, First Floor, (306) 683-5033.