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Louise Arbour
Credit:
Larry Munn, photographer
Source: The Supreme
Court of Canada
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"Nobody is safe when leaders who
have the capacity to do massive damage to their own population
are guaranteed impunity," explains Arbour. "To
tackle this kind of abuse of power through criminal sanction
is in a sense the ultimate achievement of criminal law. This
is what it has to contribute to democracy."
The Life and Times of Louise Arbour chronicles Arbour's
life from early childhood in Quebec to her recent appointment
to the Supreme Court of Canada. She was 24-years-old when
she became a law graduate from the University of Montreal.
While raising three small children, Arbour taught law at Toronto's
Osgoode Hall. At 39, she was appointed Judge at the
Superior Court of Ontario, then she was promoted to the Court
of Appeals.
Arbour never backed away from the more controversial and
sometimes morally difficult cases. Indeed, her decisions
in the Imre Finta and rape shield cases frustrated her critics
and defied simple classification. "There's
a slightly rebellious streak in Louise Arbour. And I
think there is certainly a readiness in her to challenge what
appears to be the status quo," says Gavin Ruxton,
Legal Advisor to the International War Crimes Tribunal.
Original Air Date - November 9, 1999
Links
International
War Crimes Tribunal
Supreme
Court of Canada
The
Honourable Madame Justice Louise Arbour
Statement
by Justice Louise Arbour, Prosecutor, International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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