Canadian Civil Liberties Association

{{Infobox organization

| name = {{Nowrap|Canadian Civil Liberties Association}}

| abbreviation = CCLA

| predecessor = Association for Civil Liberties (ACL)

| caption =

| membership =

| language = English, French

| headquarters = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| region_served = Canada

| formation = {{start date and age|1964}}

| logo = Canadian Civil Liberties Association logo.svg

| founders = {{hlist | Irving Himel | Pierre Berton | June Callwood | Bora Laskin | Mark MacGuigan | Harry Arthurs | John Keiller MacKay}}

| leader_title = Executive Director and General Counsel

| leader_name = Noa Mendelsohn Aviv{{cite web|title=Staff|url=http://ccla.org/about-us/staff/|website=CCLA|access-date=31 August 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/33535/canadian-civil-liberties-association-names-new-executive-director |title=Canadian Civil Liberties Association names new executive director |publisher=The Lawyer's Daily |access-date=February 17, 2022 |location=Canada}}

| website = {{official URL}}

| type = registered charity

| purpose = Civil liberties advocacy

| registration_id = 754802288 RR0001{{cite web|url=http://ccla.org|title=Charitable Registration Number|website=CCLA|access-date=10 May 2020}}

}}

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA; {{langx|fr|Association Canadienne des Libertés Civiles}}) is a nonprofit organization in Canada devoted to the defence of civil liberties and constitutional rights.Dominique Clement. [http://historyofrights.ca/encyclopaedia/social-movements/national-canadian-civil-liberties-association/ Case Study: Canadian Civil Liberties Association] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220094311/http://historyofrights.ca/encyclopaedia/social-movements/national-canadian-civil-liberties-association/ |date=2016-02-20 }} Page accessed Feb 13, 2016

History

The CCLA was founded in 1964 in Toronto, prompted by the Ontario government's proposal of a bill that would have granted special powers to the police in the face of a rise in organized crime. Its predecessor was the Association for Civil Liberties (ACL), which at its foundation had been intended to address national issues, but had become focused primarily on issues in Ontario. The ACL was led by Irving Himel, and in response to the bill, he gathered human rights leaders in Toronto, including Pierre Berton, June Callwood, Bora Laskin, Mark MacGuigan, Harry Arthurs, and John Keiller MacKay, and they formed the CCLA with Mackay as its honorary president.

In 1968, the CCLA won a grant from the Ford Foundation to study due process in Canadian lower courts and used the findings as a guide for its advocacy in the ensuing years.

The CCLA was one of the few groups in Canada that protested the 1970 invocation of the War Measures Act by then Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau in response to the October Crisis in Quebec.

In the opinion of Dominique Clément, its most enduring contribution in the 20th century was its influence on the drafting of the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The CCLA acted at the Rouleau Commission into the use of the Emergencies Act to quell the Freedom Convoy which arose in the aftermath of the government-mandated vaccine for COVID-19.

Leadership

Alan Borovoy served as general counsel of the organization from 1968 to 2009 and under his leadership, he and the CCLA became famous throughout Canada as defenders of free speech and civil liberties. He continued as general counsel emeritus from 2009 until his death in 2015.Peter Edwards and Stephen Spencer Davis for the Toronto Star. May 12, 2015 [https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/05/12/civil-liberties-champion-alan-borovoy-dies-at-82.html Civil liberties champion Alan Borovoy dead at 83]Kim Covert for The National. May 12, 2015 [http://www.nationalmagazine.ca/Blog/May-2015/Obit-Alan-Borovoy-%281932-2015%29.aspx Obit: Alan Borovoy (1932-2015)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222123644/http://www.nationalmagazine.ca/Blog/May-2015/Obit-Alan-Borovoy-%281932-2015%29.aspx |date=2016-02-22 }}

Nathalie Des Rosiers was CCLA's general counsel from 2009 to 2013.{{cite web |url=https://commonlaw.uottawa.ca/en/people/rosiers-nathalie |title=Nathalie Des Rosiers |work=Common Law Section |publisher=University of Ottawa}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/nathalie-des-rosiers-on-guard-for-canadians-freedoms/article559990/ |title=Nathalie Des Rosiers: On guard for Canadians' freedoms |newspaper=Globe and Mail |date=December 28, 2010}}

Sukanya Pillay was executive director and general counsel from 2014 until 2017, and had been acting general counsel from 2013 to 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://ccla.org/press-release-sukanya-pillay-appointed-ed-and-general-counsel-ccla/|title=Press Release: Sukanya Pillay Appointed Executive Director and General Counsel of CCLA|date=2014-02-19|website=Canadian Civil Liberties Association|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-19}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds/author/mallory-hendry/sukanya-pillay-resigns-as-executive-director-gc-of-ccla-7567/|title=Sukanya Pillay resigns as executive director, GC of CCLA {{!}} Canadian Lawyer Mag|website=www.canadianlawyermag.com|language=en|access-date=2019-06-04}}

Former Attorney-General of Ontario Michael Bryant was appointed executive director and general counsel in 2018 {{cite web| url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/michael-bryant-do-over-1.4483421| title = What happened to Michael Bryant? Former Ontario attorney general on his do-over {{!}} CBC News}} and served until January 1, 2022 when he left to become executive director of Legal Aid BC.{{cite news |last1=Mulgrew |first1=Ian |title=Laid flat by 2009 road-rage death, man with hopes to be Ontario premier returns to B.C. as head of Legal Aid |url=https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/ian-mulgrew-laid-flat-by-2009-road-rage-death-man-with-hopes-to-be-ontario-premier-returns-to-b-c-as-head-of-legal-aid |access-date=February 17, 2022 |work=Vancouver Sun |date=October 31, 2021}}

Noa Mendelsohn-Aviv was appointed executive director and general counsel on February 9, 2022.{{Cite web | url=https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/33535/canadian-civil-liberties-association-names-new-executive-director | title=Canadian Civil Liberties Association names new executive director - the Lawyer's Daily }} She had previously been acting executive director and general counsel from 2017 to 2018.{{cite web| url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-mpp-bill-human-rights-code-1.4344195| title = Bill would protect against discrimination based on genetics, immigration status, police records {{!}} CBC News}}

=Archival holdings=

Canadian Civil Liberties Association fonds at Library and Archives Canada, reference number R9833.{{Cite web|title=Canadian Civil Liberties fonds description at Library and Archives Canada|url=https://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&rec_nbr=197551&lang=eng&rec_nbr_list=197551,101955,213535,4932910,103785,97743,102767,3930353,160393,103777|access-date=June 18, 2020}}
[https://wayback.archive-it.org/227/*/http://www.ccla.org/ Canadian Civil Liberties Association - Canadian Political Parties and Political Interest Groups] - Web Archive created by the University of Toronto Libraries