David Matas (born 29 August 1943) is the senior legal counsel of

B'nai Brith Canada B'nai Brith Canada ( ; BBC; from ) is a Canadian Jewish service organization and advocacy group. It is the Canadian chapter of B'nai B'rith International and has offices in Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Vancouver. Mission The organizatio ...

who currently resides in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. He has maintained a private practice in

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, and

human rights law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

since 1979, and has published various books and manuscripts. Criticizing

impunity Impunity is the ability to act with exemption from punishments, losses, or other negative consequences. In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itsel ...

for human rights abuses, Matas stated: "Nothing emboldens a criminal so much as the knowledge he can get away with a crime."

Early life and education

David Matas was born in

; his grandparents were immigrants from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. He obtained a B.A. from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

in 1964, and a Master of Arts from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1965. In 1967, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Jurisprudence) from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, England, and in 1968 he obtained a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL or B.C.L.; ) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Oxford, the BCL contin ...

. In 1969, he became a

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, and he joined the Bar of

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

in 1971.

Career

Government work

Matas served as a Law Clerk to the

Chief Justice of Canada The chief justice of Canada () is the presiding judge of the nine-member Supreme Court of Canada, the highest judicial body in Canada. As such, the chief justice is the highest-ranking judge of the Canadian court system. The '' Supreme Court Ac ...

in 1968–69, and was a member of the Foreign Ownership Working Group,

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

, and was special assistant to the Solicitor General of Canada in 1971–72. He served as a member of the Canadian delegation to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

, the Task Force on Immigration Practices & Procedures, the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Conference on an

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

1998, the Canadian Delegation to the Stockholm International Forum on the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, and from 1997 until 2003, the Director of the International Centre for Human Rights & Democratic Development. On 13 November 2009, Matas was appointed to the board of this centre, also known as Rights and Democracy (R&D), which was headed by Professor Aural Braun. Shortly afterwards, a number of illicit actions by the staff of R&D and secret grants to radical organizations were exposed, and Matas joined Braun in initiating a major investigation. As a result of the investigations, funding was cut and in 2012, the government closed the Rights and Democracy framework.

Teaching work

Matas has also taught

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, Introductory Economics, Canadian Economic Problems,

International Law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

Civil Liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

, and Immigration & Refugee Law, at the University of Manitoba.

Politics

David Matas ran for the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and 1980 federal elections as a Liberal candidate in Winnipeg—Assiniboine district and came in second place both times. In 2009, Matas was a signatory to a letter opposing the appointment of Christine Chinkin to a UN Human Rights Council fact finding mission on the 2008-2009

Gaza War The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

(also known as the Goldstone Commission), alleging that Chinkin signed a prejudicial letter that indicated that, without examining the evidence, she "concluded that Israel was acting contrary to international law." Chinkin did not resign, and endorsed the UN

report A report is a document or a statement that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and purpose. Although summaries of reports may be delivered orally, complete reports are usually given in the form of written documen ...

, which was later denounced as biased and ill-informed by one of its authors, Judge Goldstone. The report's other authors stand by its content and criticized Goldstone's reversal of position on it. In his book "Aftershock: Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism", Matas accused critics of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's post-1967 war policies regarding the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

of having double standards in not also criticizing

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

's occupation of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

Human rights work

He has been actively involved as Director of the International Defence & Aid Fund for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in Canada, Director of Canada-South Africa Cooperation, Co-chair Canadian Helsinki Watch Group, Director Manitoba Association of Rights & Liberties,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, B'nai Brith Canada, the

Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annual Meeting was ...

, the

International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is supported by an International Secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland, and staffed by lawyers drawn from a wide range of jurisdi ...

, Canadian Jewish Congress, and Canadian Council for Refugees. He represented Lai Changxing in his extradition proceedings. He is also counsel for ''Justice for Jews from Arab Countries'' and is co-author of "Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: The Case for Rights and Redress". He presented various papers on the legal issue of prosecuting war criminals in Bangladesh.

Organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China

In 2006, with David Kilgour he released the Kilgour-Matas report,David Kilgour, David Matas (6 July 2006, revised 31 January 2007)
An Independent Investigation into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China
(free in 22 languages) organharvestinvestigation.net which stated "the source of 41,500 transplants for the six year period 2000 to 2005 is unexplained" and "we believe that there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners". In 2009, they published an updated version of the report as a book. They visited about 50 countries to raise awareness of the situation. Later Matas stated, "We estimate in the period between 2000 and 2005, there were 41,500 transplants which have no other explained source". In 2012, ''State Organs: Transplant Abuse in China'', edited by Matas and Torsten Trey, was published with essays from Gabriel Danovitch, Professor of Medicine, Arthur Caplan, Professor of Bioethics, Jacob Lavee, cardiothoracic surgeon, Ghazali Ahmad, Maria Fiatarone Singh, Torsten Trey, Ethan Gutmann and Matas. Ethan Gutmann interviewed over 100 witnesses and estimated that 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008. Jay Nordlinger (25 August 2014
"Face The Slaughter: The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China’s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem, by Ethan Gutmann"
, National ReviewBarbara Turnbull (21 October 2014)

The Toronto StarEthan Gutmann (August 2014
The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting and China’s Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem
"Average number of Falun Gong in Laogai System at any given time" Low estimate 450,000, High estimate 1,000,000 p 320. "Best estimate of Falun Gong harvested 2000 to 2008" 65,000 p 322. amazon.com

CBA Committee on the Constitution

Matas is a member of the

. In 1977, following the election of the

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

government the previous year, he was asked to sit on the CBA Committee on the Constitution. The committee's mandate was to study and make recommendations on the

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of Canada () is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents are an amalgamation of various ...

. The members of the committee were drawn from each province of Canada, and included two future provincial premiers, a future Supreme Court of Canada justice, two future provincial chief justices, and a future Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. The Committee presented its report to the CBA at the next annual meeting, in 1978. The committee made wide-ranging recommendations for constitutional change, including a completely new constitution, abolishing the monarchy, changing the Senate, entrenching language rights and a bill of rights, and changing the balance of powers between the federal government and the provinces.

Works

* ''Justice Delayed: Nazi War Criminals in Canada'' (1987) with Susan Charendoff, * ''Closing the Doors: The Failure of Refugee Protection'' (1989) with Ilana Simon, * ''No More: The Battle Against Human Rights Violations'' (1996), * ''Bloody Words: Hate and Free Speech'' (2000), * ''Aftershock: Anti-Zionism & Antisemitism'' (2005), *
Bloody Harvest, The killing of Falun Gong for their organs
' (2009) with David Kilgour * ''Why Did You Do That?: The Autobiography of a Human Rights Advocate'' (2015),

Bnai Brith Canada, 2002 Matas has also appeared in the documentaries ''Red Reign: The Bloody Harvest of China's Prisoners'' (2013) and '' Human Harvest'' (2014).

Awards

Matas is the recipient of numerous honours and awards including: * Governor-General's Confederation Medal in 1992 * Outstanding Achievement Award from the Manitoba Association of Rights & Liberties in 1996 * League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada Midwest Region Human Rights Achievement Award in 1999 * Vancouver Interfaith Brotherhood Person of the Year 2006 * Appointed a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

on October 23, 2008. *For their

organ harvesting Organ procurement (also called surgical recovery) is a surgical procedure that removes organs or tissues for reuse, typically for organ transplantation. Procedures If the organ donor is human, most countries require that the donor be legally d ...

work Matas and Kilgour won the 2009 Human Rights Award from the German-based International Society for Human Rights and were nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

Professional discipline

Matas is a member of the Law Society of Manitoba, the regulatory body for lawyers in that province. On April 11, 2024, he admitted in disciplinary proceedings that he had breached an undertaking he had made to the Law Society, that he would only practise with the assistance of other lawyers. The Law Society disciplinary body noted that his breach of his undertaking did not cause any harm to his clients, but felt it necessary to issue a reprimand. It also directed that he pay costs of $1,500 in relation to the disciplinary proceedings."'Otherwise unimpeachable' Manitoba lawyer pleads guilty to professional misconduct"
''CBC News'', May 31, 2024.

References

External links

Biography
at University of Winnipeg

at Canadian Political Science Students' Association {{DEFAULTSORT:Matas, David University of Manitoba alumni Princeton University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Lawyers from Winnipeg Lawyers in Manitoba Canadian people of Romanian-Jewish descent Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent 1943 births Living people Clerks of the Supreme Court of Canada Canadian human rights activists