Bora Laskin Award: Recognizing Distinguished Contributions to Canadian Labour Law

Bora Laskin
Credit: Supreme Court of Canada

The University of Toronto is inviting nominations for its annual Bora Laskin Award for outstanding contributions to Canadian labour law.

The Bora Laskin Award was established in 2003 by the University of Toronto Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources in cooperation with Lancaster House, publishers of information on labour, employment and human rights for over 30 years. The award is named after the late Chief Justice Bora Laskin (1912-1984) who, before joining the Supreme Court of Canada, was pre-eminent as a labour law scholar and labour arbitrator.

Nominees are considered from all fields relating to labour law, including, for example, academia, private practice, courts, tribunals, and arbitration.

The 2023 recipient of the Bora Laskin Award was awarded to Paula Knopf at a gala dinner on Monday, December 4, 2023. The event was held in conjunction with the Toronto Labour Arbitration and Policy Conference, and hosted by the University of Toronto and Lancaster House at the Beanfield Conference Centre (on the CNE grounds at 105 Princes' Boulevard).

Award Committee Members

  • Ginette Brazeau, Chair, Canada Industrial Relations Board
  • Justice Emily Burke, Supreme Court of British Columbia
  • Brian Burkett, Fasken LLP, Toronto
  • Professor Renée-Claude Drouin, Faculté de droit, Université de Montréal
  • Ron Pink, Pink Larkin, Halifax
  • Professor Kerry Rittich, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
  • Tom Roper, Roper Greyell LLP, Vancouver
  • Professor Daphne Taras, Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University
  • The Honourable Warren K. Winkler, former Chief Justice of Ontario

Chair: Rafael Gomez, Professor and Director, Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto


Introductions and Paula Knopf's 2023 Bora Laskin Award Ceremony remarks have been published with permission below:

Our 2022 Bora Laskin Award recipients were Thomas Roper and Jeffrey Sack. Their award ceremony remarks have been published with permission below: