Working for human rights
This series of events was created to have leading human rights practitioners come and share their professional experience with our audience. It is an opportunity for students, alumni and any other person interested in human rights to hear about their career path and professional background!
We are pleased that Allan Rock has accepted our invitation. He is President Emeritus of the University of Ottawa, and a former Professor in its Faculty of Law.
Allan Rock
President Emeritus of the University of Ottawa
Allan Rock is President Emeritus of the University of Ottawa, and a former Professor in its Faculty of Law.
He practised in civil, administrative and commercial litigation for 20 years (1973-93) with a national law firm in Toronto. He was inducted in 1988 as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is a former Treasurer (President and CEO) of the Law Society of Ontario.
Allan Rock was elected to the Canadian Parliament in 1993 and re-elected in 1997 and 2000. He served for that decade as a senior minister in the government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, in both social and economic portfolios. He was Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (1993-97), Minister of Health (1997-2002) and Minister of Industry and Infrastructure (2002-03).
He was appointed in 2003 as Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations where he led the successful Canadian effort in New York to secure, at the 2005 World Summit, the unanimous adoption by UN member states of The Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing and other mass atrocities. He later served as a Special Envoy for the United Nations investigating the unlawful use of child soldiers in Sri Lanka during its civil war.
In 2008, Allan Rock became the 29th President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, a comprehensive university of 50,000 students, faculty and staff. uOttawa is ranked among the Top Five in Canada for research intensity and is the largest bilingual university (French-English) in the world. He completed two terms as uOttawa President in 2016.
Allan Rock was subsequently a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School, associated with the Program on International Law and Armed Conflict.
He is a member of the World Refugee and Migration Council. He chairs the Board of Directors of Security Council Report. He is a member of the international Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch. He is a member of the Board of Integrity Initiatives International and succeeded Justice Richard Goldstone of South Africa as Chair of the group preparing a treaty to establish the International Anti-Corruption Court. And he has been appointed by The UN Secretary-General to co-chair an expert panel that will recommend more effective and humane strategies for regulating and controlling narcotic drugs.
Allan Rock is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. He is married to Deborah Hanscom and they have three grown children.
Photographs, videos and audio recordings of this event may be produced and may include your recognizable image. By participating in this event, you consent to being photographed, videotaped and audiotaped, and you authorize the University to use any of these recordings for its activities and events, as well as for its print and electronic promotional material.