Peter Russell

Professor Peter H. Russell, O.C., taught Political Science at the University of Toronto from 1958 until 1996, specializing in Judicial, Constitutional and Aboriginal Politics. He is a past President of the Canadian Political Science Association and an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is the author of The Judiciary in Canada: The Third Branch of Government, Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become A Sovereign People? and co-editor of Judicial Power and Canadian Democracy. His book on The Mabo Case and Indigenous Decolonization will be published in 2005, and he is currently editing an international book on Appointing Judges in an Age of Judicial Power.

George Thomson

Mr. Thomson's career in law and public service began at the University of Western Ontario, where he served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Law, and then became the Assistant Dean of the Law School. In 1972, Mr. Thomson was appointed Judge of the Provincial Court for the Province of Ontario. Subsequently, he was appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Community and Social Services, also for the Province of Ontario. After five years in this position, Mr. Thomson returned to the bench, and then, from 1985-1989, he became the Director of Education for the Law Society of Upper Canada. During this time he also chaired a provincial committee on social welfare reform. In 1989, Mr. Thomson accepted the appointment of Deputy Minister of Citizenship for the Province of Ontario, followed by the appointment as Deputy Minister of Labour, and then as Ontario Deputy Attorney General. Mr. Thomson was Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 1994-1998. Following that, he became Special Advisor to the Minister of Justice and was a Skelton-Clark fellow at Queen's University. In 2000, he assumed his present position as the Executive Director of the National Judicial Institute.

Mr. Thomson received his B.A. and his LL.B. from Queen's University, and his LL.M. from the University of California.