Biography
Iain T. Benson is a Senior Associate Counsel in the Litigation Practice Group.
Mr. Benson practices in the areas of administrative, judicial review (labour and human rights), constitutional law and medical/legal subjects, with a focus on advice in the area of rights and freedoms with a particular interest in constitutional law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
He has appeared before all levels of Court in Canada including the Supreme Court of Canada in cases involving human rights and constitutional law and has been a witness before a wide variety of Professional Organizations, Commissions and Parliamentary committees. He has consulted to the Attorney General of Ireland and the Policy Research Initiative of the Federal Government of Canada and is Extraordinary Professor of Law, Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law, Faculty of Law, University of the Free State (Bloemfontein) and the first non-national Research Associate for the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (Johannesburg). He is a Senior Research Fellow with the Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life, Augustana Campus, University of Alberta, Canada. That Centre published a monograph by Mr. Benson entitled Living Together with Disagreement: Pluralism, the Secular and the Fair Treatment of Beliefs in Canada Today (May 2010).
He has lectured across Canada, the United States, Europe, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. At the invitation of the Canadian Bar Association Iain gave a paper to the 2006 National Conference on “Religion and the State.” His work on “secular” and “secularism” has been cited with approval by the Supreme Court of Canada and the Constitutional Court of South Africa and his writings have appeared in national and local papers and he has been interviewed on most major Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programs.
Over the past two years he has been part of the Steering Committee of a working group meeting with religious leaders and NGO’s drafting the South African Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms.
He was one of two people retained (Fall, 2007) by the Policy Research Initiative (an internal Federal Government “think-tank”) looking at federal Multi-culturalism policy to write a background “think-piece” on “Religion and Public Policy.” That work, Taking a Fresh Look at Religion and Public Policy in Canada: The Need for a Paradigm Shift was submitted in January 2008.
Mr. Benson is a keen squash player, cyclist and skier. He is married and the proud father of seven children.
Education
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England (M.A., (Cantab), 1987)
University of Windsor (LL.B., 1984)
Queen’s University (B.A. (Hons.), 1980)
Year of call
Called to the British Columbia Bar in 1985
Called to the Ontario Bar in 2010
Affiliations
Member, Canadian Bar Association
Member, American Political Science Association
Executive Director, Centre for Cultural Renewal, Ottawa (1994 -2009)
Member, Continuity Committee, drafting Charter of Religious Rights and Freedoms under Section 234 of the South African Constitution
Member, Law Society of Upper Canada 2010
Additional information
University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Ph.D. (Candidate, 2009)
Publications and Appointments
Author, "Ontario Divisional Court Releases Important Decision for Religious Employers: Comment on Heintz v. Christian Horizons", Charities and Not-for-Profit Newsletter (June 2010)
Author, “Is Canada Moving Towards or Away From Religious Inclusivity In The Public Sphere?” Paper presented to the “Religion in the Public Square in Canada” Conference, Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Vatican City, (11 May 2010).
Author, “Living Together with Disagreement: Pluralism, the Secular, and the Fair Treatment of Beliefs in Canada Today” in The Ronning Centre forums; II (Edmonton: University of Alberta/McCallum Printing Group Inc., 2010).
Author, “The Case for Religious Inclusivism and the Judicial Recognition of Associational Rights: A Response to Lenta”, (2008) 1 Constitutional Court Review 297.
Author, “Physicians and Marriage Commissioners: Accommodation of Differing Beliefs in a Free and Democratic Society”, (2008) 66 The Advocate 747.
Author, “Do ‘values’ mean anything at all? Implications for law, education and society”, (2008) 33 Tydskrif vir Regswetensak / Journal for Juridical Science 1.
Author, “Taking a Fresh Look at Religion and Public Policy in Canada: The Need for a Paradigm Shift”, (Presented for the Religion in Public Policy Project, Federal Government, Canada. January 2008).
Author, “The Jurisdiction of Science: What the Evolution/Creation Debate is Not About”, (2007) 2007:3 Tydskrif vir Christelike Wetenskap / Journal for Christian Scholarship 1.
Author, “The Freedom of Conscience and Religion in Canada: Challenges and Opportunities”, (2007) 21 Emory International Law Review 111.
Author, “Considering Secularism” in Douglas Farrow ed., Recognizing Religion in a Secular Society (Montreal: McGill Queens Press, 2004) 83.
Author, “Notes Towards a (Re)Definition of the ‘Secular’", (2000) 33 U.B.C Law Review 520.
Research and Policy Consultant to the Canadian Federal Government Industrial Inquiry Commission (West Coast Ports, 1995).
Senior Fellow, Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life, University of Alberta, Camrose (2010-present).
Extraordinary Professor, Faculty of Law, Department of Constitutional Law and Department of Philosophy of Law, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa (Nov.2009-present).
Research Associate, South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Human Rights, Public and International law (SAIFAC), Johannesburg, South Africa (2008-present).
Consultant of the Policy Research Initiative (Federal Government of Canada) (2007-2008).
|
