Irwin Cotler

Irwin Cotler (born 8 May 1940) is a retired Canadian politician who was Member of Parliament for Mount Royal from 1999 to 2015.

It was only the third time that the Liberals had been seriously threatened in Mount Royal since 1940, and the closest that a centre-right party has come to winning anywhere in Montreal since 1993.

As a child, Cotler's father brought him to Delorimier Stadium in 1946 where the two saw Jackie Robinson on the field, with Cotler saying this moment inspired his interest in civil liberties as he and his father discussed anti-racism.

Cotler received his B.A. (1961) and BCL (1964) degree from McGill University and was an editor of the McGill Law Journal.

He then graduated from Yale Law School with an LL.M.

For a short period, he worked as a speechwriter for federal Minister of Justice John Turner in 1968 until 1972.

In 1970, he entered academia, beginning his career as an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Cotler was a professor of law at McGill University and the director of its Human Rights Program from 1973 until his election as a Member of Parliament in 1999 for the Liberal Party of Canada.

He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Yale Law School and is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates.

Cotler served on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Development, as well as on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election in November 1999, winning 92% of votes cast.

The son of a lawyer, Cotler was born in Montreal, Quebec to a Jewish family.

In 2000, he was appointed special advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the International Criminal Court.

He served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal government of Paul Martin lost power following the 2006 federal election.

On 12 December 2003, Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed him to Cabinet as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

He recommended the appointment of two women to the Supreme Court of Canada: Louise Charron and Rosalie Abella, Canada's first Jewish woman Supreme Court justice.

Cotler attempted to introduce several bills to decriminalize marijuana.

As Minister of Justice, Cotler tabled Canada's first-ever National Justice Initiative Against Racism, in parallel with the government's National Action Plan Against Racism.

He was tasked with improving relations with the indigenous peoples in Canada and implemented a policy "known as the seven R’s: recognition, respect, redress, representation, responsiveness, reconciliation and relationships."

As Minister of Justice, Cotler presided over many legislative changes concerning national security.

This included proposed changes to privacy legislation known as "Lawful Access" to give police and intelligence officers the tools to conduct surveillance of electronic communications for law enforcement and national security purposes.

In early 2005, Cotler intervened in the senate review of Canada's 2001 Anti-Terrorism Act, as mandated by section 145 of the bill.

This law, adopted in the wake of the September 11 attacks, had been criticized by some human rights groups and defense lawyers, as an unreasonable trade-off between security and freedom.

In his speech to the senate committee on the matter, Cotler rejected these concerns, arguing that "there is no contradiction in the protection of security and the protection of human rights".

On 22 February 2006, the Liberal Party appointed Cotler Critic for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness in the opposition shadow cabinet for the 39th Canadian Parliament.

On 18 January 2007, Cotler was appointed Critic for Human Rights by newly elected leader Stéphane Dion.

Cotler was re-elected to Parliament in the 2008 election to represent the Mount Royal riding in Quebec with 55% of the vote, In January 2009, Cotler was named Special Counsel on Human Rights and International Justice for the Liberal Party, under Michael Ignatieff, and subsequently Critic for Human Rights.

He was re-elected again in the 2011 election, fending off a serious challenge from former city councillor Saulie Zajdel, a longtime Liberal supporter running as a Conservative who lost by only 2,500 votes.

In May 2011, Cotler was named Justice and Human Rights Critic by interim Liberal leader Bob Rae.

Cotler also chaired the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Human Rights in Iran, the Inter-Parliamentary Group of Justice for Sergei Magnitsky, and the All-Party Save Darfur Coalition.

In 2013, Cotler was chosen to represent the Liberal Party of Canada at the funeral of Nelson Mandela in deference to the work he did for and with Mandela in fighting Apartheid.

Party Leader Justin Trudeau gave up his seat for him.

On 5 February 2014, Cotler announced he was not running in the 42nd Canadian federal election.

He said he would remain "active in public life, lecturing and writing on the issues of the day, advancing the causes of human rights and international justice, and advocating on behalf of political prisoners."

Cotler was one of thirteen Canadians banned from traveling to Russia under retaliatory sanctions imposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2014.

He replied through his official Twitter feed, "I see my travel ban from Russia as a badge of honour, not a mark of exclusion."

Cotler is on the Board of Advancing Human Rights (NGO).

Cotler Cotler spoke at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on several occasions.

Cotler is a past president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, a member of MEMRI's Board of Advisors, an Honorary Member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Genesis Prize Foundation and is a board member of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations.

Studying antisemitism, Cotler separated it into six categories and found thirteen indices of discrimination against Jews that characterizes the "new anti-Jewishness".