Introduction

• Author: Martine Valois/Ian Greene/Craig Forcese/Peter McCormick
• Pages: 1-4

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Introduction

     was established in  with two div-

isions — trial and appeal — and in  the two divisions formally split into

two separate courts. In , the two courts decided to celebrate their th

anniversary in  together. A th Anniversary Steering Committee was

formed that included Justices Richard Boivin and Donald J Rennie from the

Federal Court of Appeal and Justices Simon Noël and James O’Reilly from

the Federal Court. ey were assisted by Amélie Lavictoire, Executive Dir-

ector of the Federal Court of Appeal, and Lise Lafrenière Henrie, Executive

Director of the Federal Court. Justice Simon Noël was chosen as the chair

of the group. Amongst other parts of the celebration, the committee decided

that there should be a book about the courts to be published in . Given

that it takes several years to plan and produce a comprehensive publication,

the committee began a search for potential authors. Justice James O’Reilly

began to make inquiries for the committee.

Justice O’Reilly contacted Ian Greene in August . Greene and

O’Reilly knew each other because both are active Fellows of McLaughlin

College, York University. Greene was part of a group of scholars who com-

pleted a major research project on courts of appeal in , resulting in a

book entitled Final Appeal,1 the research for which included interviews with

all of the judges of the Federal Court (Appeal Division) in the mid-s.

1 Ian Greene et al, Final Appeal: Decision-Making in Canadian Courts of Appeal (Toronto:

Lorimer, 1998).