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The Honourable Irwin Cotler, PC , MP , OC , BA , BCL , LL.D , Ph.D was Canada 's Minister Of Justice and Attorney General Of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal government of Paul Martin lost power following the 2006 Federal Election . He was elected to the Canadian House Of Commons for the constituency of Mount Royal in a By-election in November 1999, and was sworn into the Cabinet positions on December 12 , 2003 . Son of a lawyer, he was born on May 8 , 1940 in Montreal , Quebec , studied at McGill University there, and for a short period, worked with federal Minister of Justice John Turner . Cotler was a professor of law at McGill University and the director of its Human Rights Program from 1973 until his election as a Member Of Parliament in 1999 for the Liberal Party Of Canada . He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Yale Law School and is the recipient of five honorary doctorates. He was appointed in 1992 as an Officer of the Order Of Canada . He is a past president of the Canadian Jewish Congress . HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVITY Irwin Cotler has served on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and its sub-Committee on Human Rights and International Development, as well as on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. In 2000 , Mr. Cotler was appointed special advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the International Criminal Court. Irwin Cotler is considered an expert on International Law and Human Rights Law . As an international human rights lawyer, Cotler served as counsel to former prisoners of conscience Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Jacobo Timmerman in Latin America, Muchtar Pakpahan in Asia, as well as other well known Political Prisoners and Dissidents . Cotler represented Natan Sharansky , who was imprisoned in the Soviet gulag for Jewish activism. After his release, Sharansky went on to become Israeli Deputy Prime Minister. Saad Ibrahim , an Egyptian democracy activist imprisoned by the Egyptian government, was represented by Cotler and acquitted in 2003 . He acted as counsel to Maher Arar during part of Arar's imprisonment and supported demands for a public inquiry. He has also defended both Palestinians and Israelis against their own governments, and participated in a minor role in the Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. In 1986 he was chief counsel to the Canadian Jewish Congress at the Deschênes Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals . CONTROVERSY AS JUSTICE MINISTER On Feburay 21, 2005, Cotler delivered a speech defending Bill C-36, Canada's new Anti-Terrorism Act, where he asked the question "how much of our freedoms should we give up?" The Anti-Terrorism Act has been heavily criticized by human rights groups and defense lawyers, who say that it represents an unreasonable trade-off between security and freedom [http://www.canadianliberty.bc.ca/liberty-vs-security/index.html . As Justice Minister, Cotler presided over proposed changes to privacy legislation known as “Lawful Access” which is intended to provided the Canadian government with expanded powers and abilities for intercepting private communications in general [http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/cons/la_al/summary/faq.html . Due to his position as Justice Minister, Cotler has received many appeals from various groups asking that secret trials and detentions in Canada be abolished however the practice of secret detentions and trials under the [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/zundel/ . Marc Emery a Canadian marijuana activist and politician had been arrested on October 2004 for passing a marijuana joint. Shortly after his arrest, Emery publicly criticized Cotler for being a "life-long human rights advocate" yet presiding over "a record number of prosecutions of marijuana possession, prosecutions of marijuana cultivation, and marijuana selling." {Link without Title} Renee Boje who is an American citizen and marijuana activist, had been seeking refugee status after fleeing drug conspiracy charges in the U.S. In June 2005, Irwin Cotler dismissed Renee Boje's application for refugee status, and ordered her to turn herself in to face a possible 10 year mandatory sentence [http://www.reneeboje.com/ . POLITICS Though he intended his foray into politics to be a brief departure from his academic career, this changed when Prime Minister Paul Martin called upon him to enter Cabinet as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. He recommended and defended the appointment of two women to the Supreme Court Of Canada in August 2004, Louise Charron and Rosalie Abella . On February 22 , 2006 , the Liberal Party appointed Cotler Critic For Public Safety And Emergency Preparedness in the Opposition Shadow Cabinet for the 39th Canadian Parliament . VIEWS ON ANTI-SEMITISM Cotler is popular within the Canadian Jewish community, given his attempts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice and his strong support of Israel . Irwin Cotler separated six categories of anti-Semitism and found thirteen indices of discrimination against Jews that characterizes the " New Anti-Jewishness ". TRIVIA In July 2005 , Cotler represented Canada in the masters division of the Ping Pong tournament at the Maccabiah Games in Israel . QUOTES On the Charter Of Rights And Freedoms , and the lifeblood of democracy, echoing the Supreme Court Of Canada that 'liberty in freedom of expression is little less vital to man than breathing is to his physical existence,' and that 'it is difficult to imagine a guaranteed right more important to a democratic society than freedom of expression.' 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