The Honourable Mr. Justice Gilles Létourneau was born at St-Michel, Bellechasse County, Quebec. He was appointed Judge of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada on May 13, 1992 and Chairman of the Commission of lnquiry into the Deployment of Canadian Forces to Somalia on March 20, 1995. He had been appointed President of the Law Reform Commission of Canada on July 5, 1990 after having served as Vice-President for five years. He has a knowledge of public administration, over fifteen years’ administrative experience and excellent knowledge and experience in

legislation and in the field of law reform. He has participated in several major legislative reforms in Quebec, where he was Associate Secretary General, Legislation, of the Executive Council and Secretary of the Legislation Committee before joining the Commission. He also served for seven years with the Quebec Departments of Justice and the Attorney General, and he was responsible for preparing and drafting ministerial policy.

 

Mr. Justice Mr. Justice Letourneau was appointed Queen`s Counsel in 1991. He has been a member

of several board of directors of bodies connected with the administration of justice and the diffusion of legal information* in particular the Department Of Justice, the Centre communautaire juridique de Québec, the Law Faculty Of Laval University and the Société quebécoise d’information juridique (SOQUIJ). He was active for eleven years in the professional training of young lawyers in Quebec, preparing and giving courses and acting as a member of the examiners’ bureau for admission to the legal profession. He has also been Vice-Dean, Director of Undergraduate Studies and a professor in the Law Faculty of Laval university. He has practised law in Quebec for five years.

 

Mr. Justice Létourneau holds a B.A. and a law degree from Laval University (LL.L.), both with distinction, and he also has a masters degree in criminal law and criminology (LL.M.) from the London School of Economics and Political Science in London and a doctorate (Ph.D.) in law and criminal procedure, also from that university. He is the author or co-author of over 100 texts, reports and articles connected with the law, legislation, the administration of justice and reform, including The Prerogative Writs in Canadian Criminal Law and Procedure, published by Butterworths in 1976. Canadian Military Law Annotated, 2006, two editions of an Annotated Summary Convictions Act published in 1979 and 1983, eight editions of an Annotated Code of Penal Procedure published in 1990,1992, 1995, 1998 , 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2009; the Final Report of the Study Committee an Violence in Amateur Hockey in Quebec; the three volume Report of Death Certificates and the Institution of the Coroner; and the five-volume report of The Commission of Inquiry into the Deployment of Canadian Forces to Somalia, entitled: A Dishonoured Legacy: The Lessons of the Somalia Affair. He was also the Quebec editor of the Canadian law report “Criminal Reports” between 1977 and 1985.