Warren J. Newman

WARREN J. NEWMAN is Senior General Counsel in the Constitutional, Administrative and International Law Section of the Department of Justice of Canada, a part-time professor of public law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa, and a sessional lecturer in comparative constitutional law at the Faculty of Law of Queen’s University. He is also one of the directors of Osgoode Professional Development’s LLM in Constitutional Law. He has represented the Attorney General of Canada before the Supreme Court of Canada in a number of significant constitutional cases, including the Quebec Secession Reference, the Manitoba Language Rights Reference, Reference re Public Schools Act (Man.), and the Bilodeau, Brunet and Arsenault-Cameron cases. He has appeared before provincial trial and appellate courts in the Bertrand case, and the Potter and Hogan cases concerning the validity of the Constitution Amendment, 1997 (Quebec) and the Constitution Amendment, 1998 (Newfoundland Act), before the Ontario Court of Appeal in the Lalonde (Montfort Hospital) case, and before the Federal Court of Appeal in the Pelletier and Gagliano cases. He also advised the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs during the enactment of An Act respecting constitutional amendments, S.C. 1996, c. 1, and An Act to give effect to the requirement for clarity as set out in the opinion of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Quebec Secession Reference, S.C. 2000, c. 26, as well as on the recent Senate reform bills.

Mr. Newman graduated with a diploma of collegial studies in Arts, a B.A. in history and political science, a B.C.L. in civil law and an LL.B. in common law from McGill University (1971-1981), where he was a University and a National Programme Scholar. He also received an LL.M. in constitutional law from Osgoode Hall Law School. He is a member of the Bars of Quebec and Ontario. Mr. Newman has testified as an expert witness before numerous parliamentary committees dealing with constitutional matters and has spoken at many academic conferences. In 1989 he received the Deputy Minister of Justice’s Prize for Professional Excellence for his work in the field of language rights; in 1997, a Merit Award from the Deputy Minister for his contribution to the drafting of the Attorney General of Canada’s submissions in the Quebec Secession Reference; and in 1998, an Award of Distinction from the Minister of Justice for his commitment to Canada’s linguistic and legal duality. In 2009 he was named Advocatus Emeritus by the Bar of Quebec to honour his career-length contribution to the legal profession.

From 1982 to 1984, Mr. Newman was the legal policy advisor to the Commissioner of Official Languages for Canada. After working as a policy analyst in the Federal-Provincial Relations Office, Mr. Newman was seconded to the Human Rights Law Section of the Department of Justice in 1985 to develop the legislative proposals that led to the enactment of Bill C-72, the 1988 Official Languages Act. He also acted as the instructing officer on the drafting of the legislation. In 1990, Mr. Newman was appointed Senior Counsel and the first Director of the Official Languages Law Group of the Department. In 1994 he was named Special Advisor to the Associate Deputy Minister, Public Law, with responsibility for coordinating constitutional law and policy advice on national unity issues, before joining the Canadian Unity and Constitutional Affairs Group in 1996 as Litigation Coordinator. He became General Counsel and Senior Coordinator of the Group in 1997, prior to his appointment to the Constitutional and Administrative Law Section as General Counsel in 1999. He was appointed Senior General Counsel in 2007.

In November 1999, York University published Mr. Newman’s book, The Quebec Secession Reference: the Rule of Law and the Position of the Attorney General of Canada. His most recent articles and book chapters include “Of Dissolution, Prorogation and Constitutional Law, Principle and Convention”, (2009) 27 National Journal of Constitutional Law 217; “The Constitutional Status of the Supreme Court of Canada”, (2009) 47 Supreme Court Law Review (2d) 429; “Parliamentary Privilege, the Canadian Constitution and the Courts”, (2008) 39 University of Ottawa Law Journal 575; “Living with the Amending Procedures: Prospects for Future Constitutional Reform in Canada”, in Mitchell et al., eds., A Living Tree: The Legacy of 1982 in Canada’s Political Evolution, LexisNexis, 2007; “The Official Languages Act and the Constitutional and Legislative Recognition of Language Rights in Canada”, in Williams, ed., Language and Governance, University of Wales Press, 2007; “Understanding the Rule of Law in Canada”, in Tierney, ed., Accommodating Cultural Diversity, Ashgate, U.K., 2007; “Standing to Raise Constitutional Issues in Canada”, in Kay, ed., Comparative Perspectives, Bruylant, Bruxelles, 2005; “The Principles of the Rule of Law and Parliamentary Sovereignty in Constitutional Theory and Litigation”, (2005) 16 National Journal of Constitutional Law 175; “Adjudicating Divisions of Powers Issues: a Canadian Perspective”, in Building the UK’s Supreme Court, Oxford University Press, 2004; “Defining the ‘Constitution of Canada’ Since 1982: The Scope of the Legislative Powers of Constitutional Amendment under Sections 44 and 45 of the Constitution Act, 1982”, (2003) 22 Supreme Court Law Review (2d) 423; “ ‘Grand Entrance Hall’, Back Door or Foundation Stone? The Role of Constitutional Principles in Construing and Applying the Constitution of Canada’, (2001) 14 S.C.L.R. (2d) 197; “Quelques réflexions sur la portée du principe constitutionnel de l’indépendance judiciaire au Canada”, (2003) 14 N.J.C.L. 319; and “Understanding Language Rights, Equality and the Charter: Towards a Comprehensive Theory of Constitutional Interpretation” (2004) 15 N.J.C.L. 335.