The Canadian Human Rights Commission was established in 1977. It is made up of two full-time members and up to six part-time members. The Chief Commissioner and Deputy Chief Commissioner are appointed for terms of up to seven years, and the other Commissioners for terms of up to three years. The following are brief biographies of the members who served on the Commission in 1998.

Michelle Falardeau-Ramsay

Michelle Falardeau-Ramsay, Q.C., was appointed Chief Commissioner in January 1997. After receiving a law degree from the University of Montreal and being called to the Quebec Bar, she pursued a career in labour relations law. She worked as a lawyer with the firm of Massicotte, Levac and Falardeau and later became a senior partner with the firm of Levac and Falardeau. In 1975, she joined the Public Service Staff Relations Board as Deputy Chairman and in 1982 became Chairman of the Immigration Appeal Board. She was appointed Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission in September 1988, and served in that capacity until taking up her present post.

Georges Cliche

Georges Cliche of Val d'Or, Quebec was appointed to the Commission in October 1995. He was called to the Quebec Bar in 1971 and later worked for four years as Crown counsel in the Youth Court and the Court of Quebec. A member of the firm of Cliche, Lortie and Ladouceur, his areas of expertise include litigation, negotiation of contracts and family and criminal law. He has also done arbitration work and helped to negotiate collective agreements, as well as appearing before various administrative tribunals. Mr. Cliche's term ended in October 1998.

Phyllis Gordon

Phyllis Gordon of Toronto, Ontario was appointed a Commissioner in May 1998. She received her Bachelor of Arts from McGill University in 1967 and her teaching credentials in fine arts from the University of Quebec in Montreal. She graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1977 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1979.

For several years Ms. Gordon practised labour law and family law in Hamilton and Kingston, Ontario. Over the course of her career, she has acquired extensive experience and expertise in various human rights areas, including pay equity and employment equity. After serving as the Director of Parkdale Community Legal Services in Toronto for five years, she became, in 1994, the Chair of the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal of Ontario. She currently has an arbitration and mediation practice, primarily in the area of labour relations.

Ms. Gordon has also served on the boards of directors of several community organizations involved with disadvantaged people and violence against women.

Yude M. Henteleff

Yude Henteleff, C.M., of Winnipeg, Manitoba was appointed a Commissioner in November 1998. He had previously served as a Commissioner from 1980 to 1986. He is a senior partner with the law firm of Pitblado Buchwald Asper in Winnipeg. His areas of expertise include corporate and commercial law, mediation and human rights. He has acted as an adjudicator of human rights complaints.

Mr. Henteleff serves on the boards of directors of a number of community organizations. Over the past thirty years, he has been an advocate for children with special needs. He has written and lectured extensively about them, and has been invited to speak on human rights issues affecting minority groups throughout Canada and abroad. He is the Honorary Solicitor for the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada, a member of the National Council of the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Manitoba Association of Rights and Liberties. He is a Governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In 1998, he was appointed a member of the Order of Canada. In 1994, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration awarded him the Citation for Citizenship. In 1992, he received the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Confederation in recognition of his community efforts. In 1989, the Manitoba Association of Rights and Liberties awarded him the Certificate of Merit for his efforts on behalf of minority groups. In 1984, the Minister of National Health and Welfare awarded him the Certificate of Honour for his volunteer efforts.

Robinson Koilpillai

Robinson Koilpillai, C.M., has been a member of the Commission since 1995. An educator, school principal, and community volunteer, he has worked in the fields of education, human rights, multiculturalism, and international development.

Mr. Koilpillai has served as Chairman of the Alberta Cultural Heritage Council, President of the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation, Executive Member of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, and President of the Canadian Multicultural Education Foundation.

In 1998, Mr. Koilpillai was inducted into Edmonton's Hall of Fame and won the Lewis Perinbam Award in International Development. A 1992 Governor General's Commemorative Medal winner, he joined the Order of Canada in 1996.

Mary Mac Lennan

Mary Mac Lennan of Halifax, Nova Scotia became a member of the Commission in November 1995. She was called to the Bar of Nova Scotia in 1979 and pursued a career as a sole practitioner until 1990. From 1981 to 1982, Ms. Mac Lennan was the Provincial Coordinator for the Nova Scotia League for Equal Opportunities. She played a similar role in National Access Awareness Week in 1988 and served as the Multicultural and Race Relations Coordinator for the City of Halifax from 1990 to 1992. A recipient of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Award in 1993, Ms. Mac Lennan served two terms as a member of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, and was appointed Chair of that Commission in 1996. She has also served on the editorial board of Just Cause, a law journal for people with disabilities and legal professionals.

Sigmund Reiser

Sigmund Reiser, C.M., C.L.U., is the sole survivor of a family of twenty-one whose members perished in the Holocaust. Emigrating to Canada after the Second World War, he worked for thirty-five years for the London Life Insurance Company, retiring as its Regional Manager. He was also Director of the Life Underwriters Association of Canada.

After retiring, he served as a Council Member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, holding positions on its Discipline Tribunal and the Peer Assessment Committee. He is currently a member of the cabinet of the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada, a member of the executive of the Community Relations Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress, and a member of several other human rights organizations. He also serves on the editorial board of the Jewish Tribune and is the National Membership Chairman of B'nai Brith Canada.

Appointed to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 1994, Mr. Reiser is a member of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Confederation for service to Canadians. On receiving a call to serve as a citizenship judge, Mr. Reiser announced his resignation from the Commission in September 1998.

Kelly Russ

Kelly Harvey Russ, a member of the Haida First Nation, was appointed a Commissioner in April 1998.

Mr. Russ, of Vancouver, B.C., received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History in 1990, and the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1993, both from the University of Victoria, where he was also president of the Native Law Student Society. In 1994, he became a member of the Law Society of British Columbia and the Canadian Bar Association.

Now a sole practitioner, Mr. Russ's legal work centres on Aboriginal rights and issues arising from the Indian Act, and other federal, provincial and territorial legislation affecting Aboriginal peoples. In addition, Mr. Russ represents Aboriginal people in the fields of child protection and family law.

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