Renée Dupuis: Difference between revisions

Renée Dupuis (born January 17, 1949) is a Canadian lawyer and Senator. A member of the Bar of Quebec since 1973, Renée Dupuis has built a career in law, specializing in the areas of human rights (in Canada) / (international) human rights law, Canadian Aboriginal law, Canadian administrative law, Canadian constitutional law, and Canadian copyright law. As a former consultant for various governments at the federal and provincial levels, she advocates in favour of substantive gender equality as well as self-government for Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Renée Dupuis has authored several books, notably Le statut juridique des peuples autochtones en droit canadien [The Legal Status of Indigenous Peoples in Canadian Law] (1999), which received the Quebec Bar Foundation Award in 2001, and Quel Canada pour les Autochtones? la fin de l'exclusion (2001). The latter work was awarded the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction in the same year and was subsequently translated into English under the title Justice for Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples in 2002.

She was appointed to the Senate of Canada as an Independent Senator on November 2, 2016, where she represents the Canadian Senate division of The Laurentides and is a member of the Independent Senators Group.

Renée Dupuis is regarded as one of Canada’s most influential legal minds since the 1980s, among those “jurists whose acute legal insights into the concepts of equity, equality and fairness helped usher Canada into a new legal age.”^[1]

Biography

For a long time, I feared the law would bore me; during my studies, the rule of precedent seemed like a major constraint. To my surprise, practicing and teaching law led me to recognize that this field does, in fact, allow for innovation.

— Renée Dupuis^[2]

Renée Dupuis was born on January 17, 1949 in Quebec City. Concerned by notions of justice and injustice since primary school, she went on study at Laval University’s Faculty of Law, with the aim of “giving a voice to those who are silenced.”^[3] After completing a bachelor’s degree (licence) in 1971, she earned a diploma from the École du Barreau (Bar School) two years later and became a member of the Bar of Quebec.^[4] She has collaborated with the latter institution throughout her career: chairing committees, participating in various working groups, and providing training.^[5]

Upon completing her law studies, Renée Dupuis did an internship with lawyers representing the Kahnawake Mohawks and the Wendake Wendat-Hurons^[3], then regrouped within the Indians of Quebec Association. Although she initially knew nothing about Canadian Aboriginal law, she became fascinated, deciding to devote herself to this field, which was under-developed at the time.^[6]

From my internship onwards, I entered an unexplored field, which I then chose to cultivate, working to advance legislation recognizing Aboriginal peoples’ rights and human rights more generally – all while keeping abreast of developments in administrative law.

— Renée Dupuis^[2]

In 1973, Renée Dupuis opened a private law practice, becoming a legal counsel and consultant for the Assembly of First Nations of Canada and for several Indigenous peoples in Quebec, including the Atikamekw and Innu.^[3][6][1] In these capacities, she participated in bi- and tri-lateral negotiations in support of regional and national organizations.^[7]

In 1975, she married the poet and writer Pierre Morency.^[8] The couple has two daughters: Catherine and Clara.^[9][3][1]

During this decade, Dupuis also worked closely on author's rights.^[10] At the request of a small group of Quebec writers, she legally constituted the Quebec Union of Writers as a trade union.

In the early 1980s, she carried out Gabrielle Roy’s request to constitute the Fonds Gabrielle-Roy [Gabrielle Roy Fund], a charitable organization endowed with Roy’s literary estate, and to sit on its Board of Directors. The Fund’s mandate is to ensure the continuity of Roy’s literary oeuvre and to provide financial support to children’s aid organizations.

In 1980, Renée Dupuis assisted with setting up the Centre de santé des femmes de Québec [Quebec Women’s Health Center], created by a women’s collective to provide safe abortion services.^[11][12]

In 1985, Renée Dupuis completed a Master of Public Administration degree at the École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)(National School of Public Administration) in Quebec City. She subsequently taught courses as a sessional lecturer and conducted training programs at ENAP, from 1988 to 1999.^[4]

From 1989 to 1995, she served as commissioner on the Canadian Human Rights Commission.^[1] In this role, she focused on women’s issues, examining such topics as sexism and discrimination against women, sexual harassment, the gender pay gap, and employment equity. She also led training programs for women and women’s aid organizations.^[5]

From 1999 to 2000, she was a member of the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel.^[13]

In 2003, Renée Dupuis earned a certification in civil and commercial mediation from the Bar of Quebec.^[4] On June 10th of the same year, Jean Chrétien, then Prime Minister of Canada, announced her nomination to the position of Chief Commissioner of the Indian Specific Claims Commission, succeeding Phil Fontaine.^[1] She held this position until the Commission was dissolved, in 2009.^{[14][15][16][17][6]} During her tenure, she advocated for the recognition of oral evidence in the courts.^[6]

From 2010 to 2011, Renée Dupuis was a member of a joint working group (Bar of Quebec & Quebec College of Physicians) on the right to die with dignity.^[18] From August 2011 to October 2016, she held the position of Vice-President of Quebec’s Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission.

In 2013, Renée Dupuis was named an Honorary Witness of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.^{[19][20][21][22]}

In November 2016, Renée Dupuis was named an Independent Senator, along with five others, by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.^[23] She succeeded Michel Rivard as the representative of the Canadian Senate division of The Laurentides. Renée Dupuis joined the Independent Senators Group.

I am a trailblazer; I forged a path in the hope that we may someday succeed in meeting the Aboriginal peoples somewhere between who they are and who we are.

— Renée Dupuis^[24]

Works

She works to redress wrongs and to break stereotypes.

— Denys Delâge^[3]

In the early 1990s, following the Oka Crisis, Renée Dupuis was approached by an editor who suggested she write on the topic of Aboriginal claims. She then began to publish a series of books with Éditions du Boréal about the situation of Indigenous peoples in Canada, beginning with La Question indienne au Canada [The Indian Question in Canada] in 1991, followed by Tribus, peuples et nations : Les nouveaux enjeux des revendications autochtones au Canada [Tribes, Peoples and Nations: The New Stakes of Aboriginal Claims in Canada] in 1997.

In 1999, Renée Dupuis published Le statut juridique des peuples autochtones en droit canadien [The Juridical Status of Aboriginal Peoples in Canadian Law], which was awarded the Bar of Quebec Foundation’s Legal Competition Prize, in the Monograph category.^[25] This work, divided into two main parts – i.e., before and after the 1982 constitutional amendments – provides an overview of Canadian laws applicable to Indigenous peoples, particularly the development of jurisprudence regarding aboriginal title.^[26]

In 2001, Renée Dupuis published Quel Canada pour les Autochtones? La fin de l'exclusion. Reworking and updating the arguments and data from her previous books, here she emphasized solutions to the “Aboriginal problem.”^[27] In particular, she asserted that “Aboriginal people are [treated as] second-class citizens, subjected to a more than century-old governmental tutelage, by which they are both marginalized and infantilized.”^[27] Renée Dupuis adopted the expression “Third World in our own country” to characterize the situation of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.^[28] She makes the case for abolishing Aborignal people’s status as second-class citizens by putting an end to their exclusion. The book received the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction in 2001; the following year, an English translation was published under the title Justice for Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples.^[29]

In 2008, Renée Dupuis published Max « One Onti » Gros-Louis, Constance et détermination [Max “One Onti” Gros Louis: Resolve and Determination], a book based on interviews she conducted with Max Gros-Louis, whom she knew for thirty years. Renée Dupuis has also given numerous talks, both in Canada and abroad, and has contributed to several collected volumes.^[30][31][32]

Just as some jurists furthered Black Americans’ desire for equality, so too did Ms. Dupuis further the Indians’ desire for autonomy.

— Denys Delâge^[3]

Prizes and distinctions

• 2012:
  • Honoris causa doctorate from Université Laval^[9]
  • Bar of Quebec Medal, for her “indefatigable” commitment^[33]
• 2008: Tribute in the retrospective Sur la ligne du temps à Québec...400 ans, 400 femmes [On the Timeline in Quebec City … 400 years, 400 Women], co-produced by the Conseil du statut de la femme [Women’s Status Council] and the YWCA Québec.^[17]
• 2007: Avocat émérite (Ad. E.), Bar of Quebec
• 2005: Member of the Order of Canada.
• 2004: Mérite Christine-Tourigny
• 2002: Women of Distinction Award, Women’s Y Foundation
• 2001:
  • Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction, for Quel Canada pour les Autochtones ? La fin de l'exclusion
  • Bar of Quebec Foundation’s Legal Competition Prize, Monograph category, for Le statut juridique des peuples autochtones en droit canadien

The Algonquin rapper Samian and the hip-hop group Loco Locass mention Renée Dupuis in their song La Paix des Braves (2007)^[3]:

No taxes – they don’t fleece you, they preserve you in alcohol, they smoke you in tobacco / I call that taxidermy – what’s that? – go ask Renée Dupuis-Morency.

— Samian and Loco Locass, La Paix des Braves

References

External links

• Renée Dupuis – Parliament of Canada biography