Media Room

Announcement

OTTAWA, April 17, 2008 – Ms. Freya Kristjanson and Mr. Nigel Marshman have been appointed Lead Counsel and Commission Counsel, respectively, for all matters relating to the public interest proceedings regarding the Amnesty International Canada - British Columbia Civil Liberties Association complaint concerning the military police's handling of detainees in Afghanistan.

• Freya Kristjanson is a partner in the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Ms. Kristjanson practices in the areas of administrative and public law, class actions and litigation/advocacy. She has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Courts, all levels of Courts in Ontario and before numerous administrative tribunals, representing both public and private sector clients. Ms. Kristjanson also has extensive public inquiry experience. She was Legal Counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar, served as Commission Counsel to the Walkerton Inquiry, was counsel at the Somalia Inquiry, and was Assistant Commission Counsel to the Hryciuk Inquiry. Ms. Kristjanson is an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, where she teaches Administrative Law. She is a Past Chair of the Constitutional and Civil Liberties Section of the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario). She also teaches trial advocacy for the Advocates' Society, and speaks and writes widely on a variety of legal and advocacy issues. Ms. Kristjanson has a B.A. (Hons.) (Queen's) 1983 and an L.L.B. (University of Victoria) 1987. She clerked for Mr. Justice W.R. McIntyre at the Supreme Court of Canada, and was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1989./li>
• Nigel Marshman has significant public inquiry experience, having worked as Commission Counsel at the Arar and Air India Inquiries. In the context of those inquiries, he has become familiar with issues that will most assuredly arise during the upcoming public interest hearing, such as national security confidentiality, legal issues related to torture, and the gathering of evidence in inquiry-type proceedings. Mr. Marshman clerked for Mr. Justice Louis LeBel of the Supreme Court of Canada and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2004.

The Military Police Complaints Commission is an independent civilian oversight body, established under Part IV of the National Defence Act. Its mandate is to monitor and review complaints about the conduct of the military police in the performance of their policing duties and to deal with complaints of interference by the chain of command in military police investigations. The fundamental role of the Commission is to promote the principles of integrity, professionalism and fairness and to build a climate of confidence within the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Forces and the Canadian public regarding the operations of the Military Police.

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Claude Dubois
Communications Officer
(613) 947-5668
claude.dubois@mpcc-cppm.gc.ca