Pierre Blais (born December 30, 1948) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

and former politician and Cabinet minister. He also served as the Chief Justice of the

Federal Court of Appeal The Federal Court of Appeal () is a Canadian appellate court that hears cases concerning federal matters. History Section 101 of the Constitution Act, 1867 empowers the Parliament of Canada to establish "additional Courts for the better Admi ...

until his retirement in June 2014. On May 1, 2015, Blais was appointed as chairman of the

Security Intelligence Review Committee The Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC; ) was a committee of Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Privy Councillors that was empowered to serve as an independent oversight and review body for the operations of the Canadian Security Intellige ...

by Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

, replacing Interim Chair

Deborah Grey Deborah Cleland Grey (born July 1, 1952) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the Official Opposition in 2000, from March to September. Grey was elected to the House of Common ...

who was stepping down from the Committee. The SIRC was dissolved on July 19, 2019, with the creation of the

National Security and Intelligence Review Agency The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA; , OSSNR) is an independent government agency organized to review all national security and intelligence activities carried out by the Government of Canada. NSIRA was established in June ...

. Blais served as a member of the NSIRA until his term expired on May 1, 2020.

Education

Blais holds both a BA (1968) and an LLL (1976) from

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

Political career

Blais entered the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Bellechasse, Quebec through the 1984 election. In 1987,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

appointed Blais to Cabinet as

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

for agriculture. Two years later, he was promoted to the position of

Solicitor-General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

. In 1990, he became Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs and, in 1993, was appointed by Mulroney to the position of

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. Blais retained this position, and added the position of

President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsidente ...

when

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician who was the 19th prime minister of Canada from June to November 1993. Campbell is the first and only female prime minister of Canada. Prior to becoming the f ...

succeeded Mulroney as PC leader and prime minister. Blais's political career came to an end when he was defeated, along with the Campbell government, in the 1993 election.

Judicial career

A member of both the

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

and

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

bar, Blais was appointed a Justice of the

Federal Court of Canada The Federal Court of Canada, which succeeded the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1971, was a national court of Canada that had limited jurisdiction to hear certain types of disputes arising under the Parliament of Canada, federal government's Canadi ...

, Trial Division, an ''ex officio member'' of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

and Judge of the

Court Martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

Appeal Court of Canada in June 1998. Through 2004, Blais presided over hearings related to

Holocaust denier Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: *Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" wa ...

Ernst Zündel Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel (; 24 April 1939 – 5 August 2017) was a German neo-Nazi publisher and pamphleteer of Holocaust denial literature.

's detention under a National Security Certificate. In February 2005, he ruled that the security certificate was valid and that the government could deport Zundel immediately. On February 20, 2008, Blais was appointed to the

. On September 9, 2009, he was appointed chief justice of the Federal Court of Appeal. Blais retired as Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal effective June 23, 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blais, Pierre 1948 births Members of the 24th Canadian Ministry Members of the 25th Canadian Ministry Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Lawyers in Quebec Judges in Quebec Living people Politicians from Chaudière-Appalaches Université Laval alumni Judges of the Federal Court of Appeal (Canada) Solicitors general of Canada Judges of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada