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Reflections - A History of SIRC
Leadership
Chairs and Members of SIRC (1984–2004)
November 30, 1984
Chair:
Hon. Ronald G. Atkey, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)
Members:
Hon. Frank McGee, P.C.
(five years)
Hon. Jean Jacques Blais, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)
Hon. Saul M. Cherniack, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)
Hon. Paule Gauthier, P.C., O.C., O.Q., Q.C.
(five years)
November 30, 1989
Chair:
Hon. John W.H. Bassett, P.C., O.C.
(three years)
Members:
Hon. Stewart D. McInnes, P.C., Q.C.
(three years)
Hon. Jean Jacques Blais, P.C., Q.C.
(two years)
Hon. Saul M. Cherniack, P.C., Q.C.
(two years)
Hon. Paule Gauthier, P.C., O.C., O.Q., Q.C.
(two years)
November 30, 1991
Member:
Hon. Saul M. Cherniack, P.C., Q.C.
(one year)
December 5, 1991
Members:
Hon. Michel Robert, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)* *Appointed to the Bench, May 1995
Hon. Jacques Courtois, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)
November 30, 1992
Member:
Hon. Edwin A. Goodman, P.C., O.C., Q.C.
(five years)
December 23, 1992
Chair:
Hon. Jacques Courtois, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)
Member:
Hon. George Vari, P.C., O.C., C.L.H.
(five years)
April 20, 1993
Member:
Hon. Rosemary Brown, P.C., O.C.
(five years)
June 8, 1995
Member:
Hon. Paule Gauthier, P.C., O.C., O.Q., Q.C.
(five years)
September 30, 1996
Chair:
Hon. Paule Gauthier, P.C., O.C., O.Q., Q.C.
(to June 7, 2000)
Member:
Hon. James Andrews Grant, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)
April 30, 1998
Member:
Hon. Bob Rae, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)
June 9, 1999
Members:
Hon. Raymond Speaker, P.C., O.C.
(five years)
Hon. Frank McKenna, P.C., Q.C.
(five years)
June 8, 2000
Chair:
Hon. Paule Gauthier, P.C., O.C., O.Q., Q.C.
(five years)
October 4, 2001
Member:
Hon. Gary Filmon, P.C., O.M.
(five years)
February 20, 2003
Member:
Hon. Baljit S. Chadha, P.C.
(five years)
November 13, 2003
Member:
Hon. Roy Romanow, P.C., O.C., Q.C.
(five years)
September 16, 2004
Member:
Hon. Raymond Speaker, P.C., O.C.
(five years)
Committee Chairs
1984–1989 Hon. Ronald G. Atkey, P.C., Q.C.
Born in Saint John, N.B., in 1942, Ron Atkey was the founding chair of the Security Intelligence Review Committee (1984–1989). A senior partner with the Toronto law firm of Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP, Mr. Atkey was called to the Ontario Bar in 1969. He was elected Member of Parliament for St. Paul's in 1972–1974, and again in 1979–1980. In 1979, he was appointed as Minister of Employment and Immigration.
A graduate of the University of Western Ontario and Yale University law schools, Mr. Atkey has also held teaching positions at Western, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, and University of Toronto. In 1970–1972, he was special counsel to the Ontario Law Reform Commission. Mr. Atkey co-authored Canadian Constitutional Law in a Modern Perspective. In 1989 and 1991, he delivered lectures on national security, international terrorism and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms at Cambridge University, England. In 1994, he produced a novel, “The Chancellor's Foot,
” a political thriller set in Ottawa and Montreal. In community affairs, he serves on the boards of a number of organizations involved in music and the performing arts, and is the Vice President-Ontario of the International Commission of Jurists (Canadian Section).
In 2004, Mr. Atkey was appointed as Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court), serving as counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar. Mr. Atkey's mandate is to test government requests on the ground of national security confidentiality.
1989–1992 Hon. John W.H. Bassett, P.C., O.C.
Prior to his appointment as Chair of SIRC in 1989, John Bassett had already achieved a highly distinguished career as broadcaster, entrepreneur, soldier, newspaper publisher and reporter. Born in Ottawa in 1915 and educated at the University of Bishop's College, he was a newspaper reporter for the Globe and Mail until 1940, when he enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces and served overseas with the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada during World War II.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Bassett built a media empire in Canada, first by purchasing key Canadian newspapers, including the Toronto Telegram, and later by heading Baton Broadcasting—a group that launched Canada's first privately owned television station, CFTO-TV. This station would later became the flagship for the CTV Television Network. As a sports entrepreneur, Mr. Bassett was Chairman of the Board of Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens and Chairman of the Board of the Toronto Argonauts Football Club.
In 1985, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 1989, was appointed as Chair of SIRC and made a member of the Privy Council of Canada. In 1992, he was elevated to Companion of the Order of Canada and was earlier appointed to the Order of Ontario (1989). He was also an Honourary Trustee for the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.
John Bassett died at the age of 82, in April 1998. In November 2000, he was inducted posthumously into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame
1992–1996 Hon. Jacques Courtois, P.C., Q.C.
Montreal lawyer Edmond Jacques Courtois was appointed as SIRC's third Chair on December 23, 1992. Born in Montreal in 1920, and deceased in 1996, Mr. Courtois completed his studies at the University of Montreal and was called to the Quebec Bar in 1946. He practised law with the firm of MacDougall, MacFarlane, Scott & Hugessen, which later became Courtois, Clarkson, Parsons & Tétreault. Mr. Courtois remained with this firm until 1982.
Earlier, during World War II, Mr. Courtois served with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1963. Prior to his appointment to SIRC, he held several executive responsibilities, including: chair of McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.; president of CIIT Inc.; vice-president and director of the Bank of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Life Assurance Company; director of CAE Industries Ltd., Norcen Energy Resources Ltd., Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company of Montreal Ltd., and Rolland Inc.
1996–present Hon. Paule Gauthier, P.C., O.C., O.Q., Q.C.
Paule Gauthier has been the Chair of SIRC since September 1996, including a re-appointment to a second five-year term in 2000. Earlier, she served as a member of SIRC from 1984 to 1991 and from 1995 to 1996. Born in Joliette, Quebec, Mme Gauthier graduated from Collège Jésus-Marie with a Bachelor of Arts in 1963, and received her Law degree from Laval University in 1966. She was called to the Quebec Bar in 1967, and completed her Master's degree in Business Law at Laval University in 1969.
Mme Gauthier is a senior partner with the law firm of Desjardins Ducharme Stein Monast in Quebec City. She was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada in November 1984, made a Queen's Counsel in December 1988, appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in October 1990, and an Officer of l'Ordre national du Québec in May 2001.
Mme Gauthier is a member of the Arbitration Committee of the Canadian Council for International Business, a member of Chapter 19 NAFTA Roster, and an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and the London Court of International Arbitration. She is a Director of the Royal Bank of Canada, Royal Trust Corporation, TransCanada Corporation, Rothmans Inc., and Metro Inc. She is President of the Foundation of la Maison Michel Sarrazin. Mme Gauthier was appointed Consul General of Sweden (Honorary) in October 1994. She was the President of the Canadian Bar Association in 1992–1993, and is an associate member of the American Bar Association.
Executive Directors of SIRC
1985–1999 Maurice Archdeacon, B.Sc.
Maurice Archdeacon was educated at St. Edward's College and the University of London. He attended the Aerospace Systems Course in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1962, Staff College in Toronto in 1968, and Post-Graduate Management at Monterey, California in 1974.
In 1983, Mr. Archdeacon was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary, Foreign and Defence Policy, in the Privy Council Office. In 1985, he was appointed Executive Director of the Security Intelligence Review Committee. He served in this capacity until August 1999, when he was appointed as Inspector General-CSIS. He retired from that position in 2003.
1999–present Susan Pollak, B.A., M.A.
Susan Pollak began her public service career in 1973 at the Communications Security Establishment. She was seconded to the Privy Council Office in 1984, and three years later accepted a position as principal policy advisor to the Deputy Clerk (Security and Intelligence and Counsel). Ms. Pollak has also held several senior management positions with the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Natural Resources Canada.
Born in Barrie, Ontario, Ms. Pollak earned a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) from Carleton University in 1972, and a Master of Arts (English Literature) from Carleton in 1974.