Perspectives on public service
By Philippe Dufresne, Canadian Human Rights Commission
Choosing a career is one of the most important and consequential decisions a person can make. This is certainly true for law graduates faced with the many possibilities offered by the practice of law.

Introducing the Institute on Governance
By Mark Berlin
How does one stay part of the Public Sector lawyers Forum after you leave the public service? Well, you become part of an organization that counts among its clients municipal, provincial, territorial and federal government departments and agencies.

Message from the Chair
By Michael Winstanley, Department of Justice Yukon
One of the first things I learned during my articles with the Yukon Department of Justice was that things remain the same.  Case in point:  reaction to the lack of affordable housing.

Susan Hardy awarded 2011 CBA John Tait Award of Excellence

Susan L. Hardy of Iqaluit, Nunavut has been selected as the winner of the 2011 Canadian Bar Association John Tait Award of Excellence. The award recognizes an outstanding Canadian public sector lawyer annually.

Susan Hardy is Director of Legislation at Nunavut’s Department of Justice. Previously, she was legal counsel (1999-2005) and legislative counsel (2005-2010) in the department.

“Susan Hardy exemplifies preeminent public service through the many contributions she has made through her work as a lawyer for the Government of Nunavut – promoting legal education and access to justice, and establishing new legal structures for the young territory,” said CBA President Rod Snow, of Whitehorse.

Highlighting her contributions as co-chair of the CBA Aboriginal Law Section (2004-2009) and Branch President (2007-2009), Snow added: “She dedicated herself to providing members of the local bar with legal education, mentoring and training opportunities. Her tireless efforts, outstanding dedication, and professionalism ensured the vitality of the Nunavut branch of the CBA.”

Bonnie Tulloch, Special Advisor on Northern Issues with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in Ottawa, and one of Susan’s nominators, noted: “She has contributed broadly to the promotion of the ideals of the public sector lawyer, and not only in terms of direct government service. All who have worked with her are particularly impressed the extensiveness and the magnitude of her volunteer commitment.”

Susan Hardy graduated from Dalhousie Law School, was called to Nova Scotia bar in 1993, and practiced law in Halifax for nearly five years.

Her work in the North began at the Office of the Interim Commissioner of Nunavut (Government of the Northwest Territories) in 1998.She was instrumental in working to set up the Department of Justice for Nunavut, in establishing the Nunavut Human Rights Tribunal, and developing special initiatives such as the initial relocation of the Family Support / Maintenance Program and the Innusirmut Aqqusiuqtiit Mediation Pilot Project. She was a public-service designate to the Legal Services Board from 1998-2005.

Susan Hardy served for many years as Chair of Membership and Admissions Committee of the Law Society of Nunavut and was the recipient of the Law Society of Nunavut Volunteer Service Award. She served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Law Society of Nunavut from 2007 – 2009.

The John Tait Award of Excellence was presented by the CBA’s Public Sector Lawyers Forum at the John Tait Award Reception on Tuesday, August 16. The reception was held in conjunction with the CBA 2011 Canadian Legal Conference and Expo in Halifax from August 14-16.

The award was established in 1998 to honour, recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of public sector lawyers in Canada. The award honours the memory of John Tait, an outstanding lawyer, public servant and friend of the CBA who passed away in the summer of 1999.

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CBA Public Sector Lawyer membership survey coming soon!

In the coming months, the Public Sector Lawyers Forum of the CBA will be asking you how we can improve the CBA experience for public sector lawyers and take advantage of the many benefits of CBA membership, such as:

• Being part of an organization that is "the one voice" of the legal profession (lawyers need advocates too!);
• The ability to work on interesting projects that can foster the development of additional skills which are not as easily obtained from your everyday work;
• The opportunity to inform colleagues outside the public service about the work we do;
• Fantastic networking opportunities with colleagues from within, and outside of, the public sector (you never know when you'll need someone to act as a reference or mentor, to provide you with the inside scoop on a new career opportunity, or to retain private counsel);
• Professional development opportunities (the private bar perspective can offer valuable insights);
• Access to various CBA publications and websites that will keep you in the know; and,
• Helping you keep your finger on the pulse of trends in the legal profession.

We want your feedback! Watch out for our upcoming survey and if you want to get involved, just let us know!  You can contact Catherine Bisson, Liaison Officer, National Sections and Conferences, The Canadian Bar Association, by phone at (800) 267-8860 or (613) 237-2925 Ext.163 or by email at: catherinebi@cba.org.

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Perspectives on public service

By Philippe Dufresne

Choosing a career is one of the most important and consequential decisions a person can make. This is certainly true for law graduates faced with the many possibilities offered by the practice of law.

Like many public sector lawyers, my choice of public service over private practice was based on a passion for public law in all its forms. I had always been fascinated by constitutional, administrative, human rights and international law and a legal career in the public services offered the greatest opportunities for working in these areas of the law.

I joined the federal public service in 2000 as counsel for the Canadian Human Rights Commission. After eleven years as a public service lawyer, I have identified the following benefits of a public sector career which I share in the hope of helping new lawyers choose the career that best suits them.

- Great opportunities for lawyers at an early stage. Compared to big law firms where junior counsel must often wait many years before acting as lead counsel in major cases, the public service gives junior counsel experience and exposure every step of the way. The public sector is often prepared to trust its junior counsel with major responsibilities earlier than the private sector would be.

- Involvement in major issues affecting all Canadians. By definition, the public sector is about policy and operations affecting large segments of the population. Public sector lawyers are therefore involved in advising, crafting and defending public policy decisions on complex and often controversial issues. In my role as counsel for the Commission, I have been involved in providing advice and legal representation on issues such as parliamentary privilege, independence and impartiality of administrative tribunals, pay equity, reasonable accommodation, racial profiling, anti-terrorism, aboriginal law, and hate on the internet to name but a few. I have no doubt that any of my colleagues at the Department of Justice or other government agencies could add to this list. This variety of fascinating and challenging issues was one of the reasons I became a lawyer in the first place and it sustains my passion for the law every day.

- Opportunities to learn about management and policy. Similar to in-house counsel, public sector lawyers can move up the ranks of the organizations they serve and can develop knowledge and skills in areas of management and policy. This mix of law, policy and management is beneficial to the lawyer as it is to the policy adviser and to the senior leader in any organization.

- A variety of career opportunities. Public sector lawyers can work for one Department and be assigned temporarily to another department or agency. In some cases, assignments can be made to the private sector or to international organizations. This provides different experiences and perspectives that are beneficial both for the individual lawyer and the government as a whole.

- Greater work-life balance. This depends on the circumstances but overall, we tend to have more flexibility in how we arrange our work. Indeed, I have found that, with less emphasis on billable hours that in the private sector, the focus and incentives in the public sector are towards greater efficiency and measuring results rather than in the amount of time spent working. For parents, public service provides a supportive environment where a lawyer can decide to take maternity or parental leave for a number of years and still be able to reach the highest echelons of leadership in their organizations.

- Lastly, the public service provides the satisfaction of knowing that you are using your legal skills to benefit Canadians and to improve the country in a real and concrete way. For idealistic lawyers, this is the most important reason of them all.

Philippe Dufresne is general counsel with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

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Introducing the Institute on Governance

By Mark Berlin, Corporate Counsel

How does one stay part of the Public Sector lawyers Forum after you leave the public service?

Well, you become part of an organization whose clients include municipal, provincial, territorial and federal government departments and agencies. I left the public service and the Department of Justice on October 11, 2010, and joined the Institute on Governance (IOG) on October 12, 2010.  I had initially thought that I would do something completely different. I seriously always wanted to be a bartender (but I don’t really drink much, so that wasn't really feasible).  Modeling? Well, only if I appeared on the show Extreme Makeover, though it is hard to grow any taller at my age, I fear I may be heading in the other direction... So truly the only thing left for me was to sort of do what I do best: continue working in the field I know, but outside of government. Happily and luckily, the IOG was keen to hire me.

What is the IOG?

For 20 years the IOG has been committed to exploring, developing and promoting the principles, standards and practices which underlie good governance in the public sphere, both in Canada and abroad. To date, the IOG has undertaken over 1000 projects in Canada and 35 countries, and we are growing every day. The IOG's work is marked by independent thought, quality delivery, and a responsive and principled approach. Our Canadian and international exposure strengthens all aspects of our work.

We focus on assisting public purpose organizations such as governments, public agencies, crown corporations, communities and the non-profit sector to improve their governance. Seventy percent of our work is done with government departments and agencies, primarily at the national and provincial level.

The Institute:

• undertakes policy-relevant research;
• provides advisory services to a wide array of organizations on strengthening governance practices including strategic planning, evaluation and assessment for programs, organizational structure and process, accountability and performance reporting;
• provides professional development and capacity building through courses in governance and public administration by assisting in the capture and sharing of knowledge and by developing leadership;
• designs and facilitates multi-stakeholder meetings and convenes events, and;
• provides speakers and panelists.

Current IOG program areas include Modernizing Government; Board & Organizational Governance; Building Strong Partnerships; Aboriginal Governance; Health and Innovation; and International Programming.

The IOG incorporates a range of tools across these program areas, including the management of change, strategic planning, performance management, building capacity and public engagement. In addition, the IOG Learning Centre offers both regularly scheduled and custom courses for senior and mid-level staff in governments and in civil society organizations across Canada and overseas.

I head up their rule of law programme and focus on growing our international practice.

So in essence you can take the boy out of the public sector but you can’t take the public sector out of the boy.

Glad to still be part of the PSLF!
 

Mark Berlin is Past Chair of the Public Sector Lawyers’ Conference.

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Message from the Chair

By Michael Winstanley

One of the first things I learned during my articles with the Yukon Department of Justice was that things often remain the same. Case in point: reaction to the lack of affordable housing.

Over the past few years, land values and the cost of construction in Yukon have risen dramatically. For example, in the City of Whitehorse, a 3-bedroom house that would have sold for $150,000 in 2001 now sells for $375,000, and most new housing is in the $450,000 to $500,000 price range. Meanwhile, increased mineral exploration and mining (which has been in the doldrums for the past 15 years or so) has stimulated the economy attracting more people to Whitehorse. Rental amounts increased along with property values and because supply could not keep up with demand there is currently an affordable housing shortage.

Early this summer, two Yukon citizens set up tents and began camping on a narrow strip of lawn located adjacent to the Legislature and stated they were protesting the lack of affordable housing in the City of Whitehorse. Within days the number of tents swelled to almost 50; and was thereafter coined “tent city.”  Various legal questions were quickly referred to legal services for analysis.

I am proud to say that my colleagues in Legal Services responded admirably to the deluge of requests for legal advice on various questions from the many different government departments and branches involved in the case. One issue of interest was how to address the issue of trespass.

One of my colleagues read a booklet titled Edge of The River, Heart Of The City: A History of the Whitehorse Waterfront (1994), by Helene Dobrowolsky. He pointed out a chapter called Those Pesky Squatters (pp. 44-48) that provides some perspective on tent city. Here are some interesting facts that he quoted from this chapter:

• In 1956, there were 342 squatters at "Whiskey Flats" (now Rotary Park and the SS Klondike area) and 772 at "Moccasin Flats" (north end of the Shipyards park area). During the war, these two squatter communities were populated by transients and known for partying and bootlegging.
• The main reasons for squatting were a housing shortage, high rents and substandard housing.
• By the mid-1950's the City and White Pass agreed that the squatters should be removed from the Whiskey Flats area. 
• In about 1957 WP donated the land that is now Rotary Park to the Rotary Club for the creation of a city park.
• After amending the Territorial Lands Act in 1957, the government could legally evict squatters. In one case, an eviction notice resulted in a court battle that lasted years.
• It was recognized that squatter removal would not work unless an alternate relocation site was available.
• In 1961 and 1962 a proposal by WP and government to buy a large block of downtown property from WP for squatter relocation was defeated in successive plebiscites. In fact, the squatters tried to raise enough money to buy Lot 19, but couldn't do so.
• As a result, the City established a "transient area" in the Marwell area that was in use well into the 1970's.
• In 1962, YTG offered to move squatter buildings free of charge to any owned or leased lot close to the City. From 1962 to 1969, the federal government funded a squatter relocation program.

To date government has taken a soft stance opting to engage in dialogue with the protestors rather than demand their removal. It will be interesting to see whether government looks to the past for an answer to address the tent city issue.

Michael Winstanley is counsel in the Department of Justice Yukon-Natural Resources & Environmental Law Group.

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OCTOBER 2011

Editor:
Bonnie Tulloch
E-Publications Editor:
Conrad McCallum
Production:
Rose Steele
Staff Liaison:
Catherine Bisson

Contributors:
Mark Berlin
Philippe Dufresne
Michael Winstanley

Published by the Canadian Bar Association's Public Sector Lawyers Forum.

The views expressed in the articles contained herein are solely the views of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Canadian Bar Association.

Upcoming PD:

Seventh Annual Canadian Bar Association Law Firm Leadership Conference

Of interest:

CBA Advocacy

© 2011 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.