J. E. Michel Bastarache (born 1947) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and retired

puisne justice Puisne judge and puisne justice () are terms for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. The term comes from a combination of the two French words, (since, later) and (born) which have been combined as or ; meaning ...

on the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

Early life and education

Born in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

on June 10, 1947, Bastarache earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

Université de Moncton The Université de Moncton is a Canadian French-language university in New Brunswick. It includes campuses in Edmundston, Moncton, and Shippagan. The university was founded in 1963 following the recommendations of the royal commission on hig ...

in 1967. He received a ''Licence d'études supérieures en droit public'' from the

University of Nice A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

in 1972. He received a

Bachelor of Law A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree from the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

in 1978. He was called to the New Brunswick Bar in 1980, the Alberta Bar in 1985, and the Ontario Bar in 1986.

Career

From 1970 to 1971, he was a legal translator for the Province of New Brunswick. In 1973, he was the general secretary for the Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick. In 1974, he was the assistant to the president of Assumption Mutual Life, becoming director of sales in 1975, and vice-president of marketing in 1976. In 1978, he joined the

as a law professor and was dean of the Law School from 1980 to 1983. From 1983 to 1984, he was the director general for the promotion of official languages in the Department of the Secretary of State of Canada. From 1984 to 1987, he was the associate dean of the Common Law section of the University of Ottawa. In 1987, he joined the firm of Lang Michener Lash Johnston, becoming a partner in 1988. From 1989 to 1994, he was the president and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Assumption Mutual Life. In 1994, he moved back to Moncton to practice at Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales. He was appointed to the

New Brunswick Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Brunswick () (frequently referred to as New Brunswick Court of Appeal or NBCA) is the appellate court in the province of New Brunswick. There are five Justices, one Chief Justice, any former judge of the Court of Appeal w ...

in 1995 and then promoted to the Supreme Court in 1997. Bastarache retired from the Supreme Court, effective June 30, 2008, and joined the Ottawa office of Canadian law firm Heenan Blaikie. In 2011, he led in Quebec a . After the collapse of Heenan Blaikie in 2014, he became affiliated with the Canadian law firm Power Law, with offices in Ottawa, Moncton and Vancouver. As of 2018, Bastarache is counsel at Ottawa-based bilingual litigation firm Caza Saikaley srl/LLP. Bastarache was made a Companion 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 ...

in recognition "for his lifelong commitment to the promotion of linguistic duality and the protection of minority rights, as a law professor and a judge" in 2009. At a news conference in Ottawa on October 6, 2016, it was announced that Bastarache had been named to administer the settlement of the class-action sexual harassment lawsuit against the RCMP by acting as an independent assessor of the claims to be submitted. Bastarache stated his intention to contact the greatest number of claimants possible and to interview many of them personally. He explained that to ensure the confidentiality of the claimants, the federal government would transfer to a fiduciary account under his control the amounts required for the compensation payments and that he would make the payments directly to claimants. Bastarache was designated the "sole and independent decision maker" for the claims process. His decisions in the matter were not open to review by the RCMP or appeal by the parties.(Settlement news conference Oct. 6, 2016)

References

"Establishing Official Languages in the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''"
at Library and Archives Canada

External links

Supreme Court of Canada bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastarache, Michel 1947 births Businesspeople from New Brunswick Canadian university and college faculty deans Companions of the Order of Canada Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Living people Lawyers in New Brunswick People from Moncton People from Quebec City Canadian people of Basque descent Université de Moncton alumni University of Ottawa alumni Université de Montréal alumni Université de Montréal Faculty of Law alumni University of Ottawa Faculty of Law alumni Academic staff of the Université de Moncton Côte d'Azur University alumni Lawyers in Ontario Lawyers in Alberta Academic staff of the University of Ottawa

Early life and education

Career

See also

References

External links