Symposium: The Role of Interveners in Public Interest Litigation

Friday, November 6th, 2010
Sign in and Registration: 8:30 a.m.

Public interest litigation can have a significant impact on public policy in Canada. Although Charter and other public interest litigation is most often commenced by individual claimants who are challenging laws that affect them individually, the test case litigant is often supported or opposed by powerful interveners such as governments and advocacy organizations representing groups in society seeking to be heard on the significant human rights issues of the day. The role that all of these interveners play in court and in the public discourse surrounding these cases is the subject of this one day symposium.
The symposium’s outstanding faculty of professionals and academics include leading jurists and representatives of government interveners, public interest groups and the private bar. International panelists will explore the roles that interveners take in jurisdictions outside of Canada. The symposium will also highlight new research on the impact of interveners at the Supreme Court of Canada conducted by the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law.

Speakers Include: Hon. Justice Dennis O’Connor, Hon. Frank Iacobucci, Hon. Justice Stephen Goudge, Frank Addario, Nathalie Des Rosiers, R. Douglas Elliott, Clive Baldwin, Michael Fordham, Q.C, Paul Collins (author Friends of the Court), Michal Fairburn, among others

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