David Matas

David Matas
Born	(1943-08-29)29 August 1943 Winnipeg,Manitoba, Canada

David MatasCM(born 29 August 1943) is the senior legal counsel ofB'nai Brith Canadawho currently resides inWinnipeg, Manitoba.He has maintained a private practice inrefugee,immigration,andhuman rights lawsince 1979, and has published various books and manuscripts.

Criticizingimpunityfor human rights abuses, Matas stated: "Nothing emboldens a criminal so much as the knowledge he can get away with a crime."

Early life and education

David Matas was born inWinnipeg, Manitoba;his grandparents were immigrants fromUkraineandRomania.He obtained a B.A. from theUniversity of Manitobain 1964, and a Master of Arts fromPrinceton Universityin 1965. In 1967, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Jurisprudence) from theUniversity of Oxford,England, and in 1968 he obtained aBachelor of Civil Law.In 1969, he became aMiddle TempleUnited KingdomBarrister,and he joined theBarofManitobain 1971.

Career

Government work

Matas served as a Law Clerk to theChief Justice of Canadain 1968–69, and was a member of the Foreign Ownership Working Group,Government of Canada,and was special assistant to theSolicitor General of Canadain 1971–72.

He served as a member of the Canadian delegation to theUnited Nations General Assembly,the Task Force on Immigration Practices & Procedures, the Canadian delegation to the United Nations Conference on anInternational Criminal Court1998, the Canadian Delegation to the Stockholm International Forum on theHolocaust,and from 1997 until 2003, theDirector of the International Centre for Human Rights & Democratic Development.On 13 November 2009, Matas was appointed to the board of this centre, also known as Rights and Democracy (R&D), which was headed by Professor Aural Braun. Shortly afterwards, a number of illicit actions by the staff of R&D and secret grants to radical organizations were exposed,and Matas joined Braun in initiating a major investigation.As a result of the investigations, funding was cut and in 2012, the government closed the Rights and Democracy framework.

Teaching work

Matas has also taughtconstitutional lawatMcGill University,Introductory Economics, Canadian Economic Problems,International Law,Civil Liberties,andImmigration & Refugee Law,at the University of Manitoba.

Politics

David Matas ran for theHouse of Commons of Canadain the1979and1980 federal electionsas aLiberalcandidate inWinnipeg—Assiniboinedistrict and came in second place both times.

In 2009, Matas was a signatory to a letter opposing the appointment ofChristine Chinkinto a UNHuman Rights Councilfact finding mission on the 2008-2009Gaza War(also known as the Goldstone Commission), alleging that Chinkin signed a prejudicial letter that indicated that, without examining the evidence, she "concluded that Israel was acting contrary to international law."Chinkin did not resign, and endorsed the UNreport,which was later denounced as biased and ill-informed by one of its authors, Judge Goldstone. The report's other authors stand by its content and criticized Goldstone's reversal of position on it.

In his book "Aftershock: Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism", Matas accused critics ofIsrael's post-1967 war policies regarding theWest Bankof having double standards in not also criticizingChina's occupation ofTibet.

Human rights work

Nothing emboldens a criminal so much as the knowledge he can get away with a crime. That was the message the failure to prosecute for theArmenian massacregave to the Nazis. We ignore the lesson of the Holocaust at our peril.

—Matas in 1989

He has been actively involved as Director of the International Defence & Aid Fund forSouth Africain Canada, Director of Canada-South Africa Cooperation, Co-chair CanadianHelsinki WatchGroup, Director Manitoba Association of Rights & Liberties,Amnesty International,B'nai Brith Canada, theCanadian Bar Association,theInternational Commission of Jurists,Canadian Jewish Congress,andCanadian Council for Refugees.

He representedLai Changxingin his extradition proceedings.

He is also counsel forJustice for Jews from Arab Countriesand is co-author of "Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: The Case for Rights and Redress".

He presented various papers on the legal issue of prosecuting war criminals in Bangladesh.

Organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China

Main articles:Organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in ChinaandPersecution of Falun Gong § Organ harvesting

In 2006, withDavid Kilgourhe released theKilgour-Matas report,which stated "the source of 41,500 transplants for the six year period 2000 to 2005 is unexplained" and "we believe that there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwillingFalun Gongpractitioners ".In 2009, they published an updated version of the report as a book.They visited about 50 countries to raise awareness of the situation.Later Matas stated, "We estimate in the period between 2000 and 2005, there were 41,500 transplants which have no other explained source".

In 2012,State Organs: Transplant Abuse in China,edited by Matas and Torsten Trey, was published with essays from Gabriel Danovitch, Professor of Medicine,Arthur Caplan,Professor of Bioethics,Jacob Lavee, cardiothoracic surgeon,Ghazali Ahmad,Maria Fiatarone Singh,Torsten Trey,Ethan Gutmannand Matas.

Ethan Gutmanninterviewed over 100 witnesses and estimated that 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008.

CBA Committee on the Constitution

Matas is a member of theCanadian Bar Association.In 1977, following the election of theseparatistParti Québécoisgovernment the previous year, he was asked to sit on theCBA Committee on the Constitution.The committee's mandate was to study and make recommendations on theConstitution of Canada.The members of the committee were drawn from each province of Canada, and included two futureprovincial premiers,a future Supreme Court of Canada justice, two future provincial chief justices, and a future Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. The Committee presented its report to the CBA at the next annual meeting, in 1978. The committee made wide-ranging recommendations for constitutional change, including a completely new constitution, abolishing the monarchy, changing the Senate, entrenching language rights and a bill of rights, and changing the balance of powers between the federal government and the provinces.

Works

• Justice Delayed: Nazi War Criminals in Canada(1987) with Susan Charendoff,ISBN978-0920197424
• Closing the Doors: The Failure of Refugee Protection(1989) with Ilana Simon,ISBN978-0920197813
• No More: The Battle Against Human Rights Violations(1996),ISBN978-1550022216
• Bloody Words: Hate and Free Speech(2000),ISBN978-1553310006
• Aftershock: Anti-Zionism & Antisemitism(2005),ISBN978-1550025538
• Bloody Harvest, The killing of Falun Gong for their organs(2009) with David Kilgour
• Why Did You Do That?: The Autobiography of a Human Rights Advocate(2015),ISBN978-1-927079-34-8
• Durban Conference: Civil Society Smashes Up,Bnai Brith Canada, 2002

Matas has also appeared in the documentariesRed Reign: The Bloody Harvest of China's Prisoners(2013)andHuman Harvest(2014).

Awards

Matas is the recipient of numerous honours and awards including:

• Governor-General's Confederation Medal in 1992
• Outstanding Achievement Award from the Manitoba Association of Rights & Liberties in 1996
• League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada Midwest Region Human Rights Achievement Award in 1999
• Vancouver Interfaith Brotherhood Person of the Year 2006
• Appointed a member of theOrder of Canadaon October 23, 2008.
• For theirorgan harvestingwork Matas and Kilgour won the 2009 Human Rights Award from the German-basedInternational Society for Human Rightsand were nominated for the2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

Professional discipline

Matas is a member of theLaw Society of Manitoba,the regulatory body for lawyers in that province. On April 11, 2024, he admitted in disciplinary proceedings that he had breached an undertaking he had made to the Law Society, that he would only practise with the assistance of other lawyers. The Law Society disciplinary body noted that his breach of his undertaking did not cause any harm to his clients, but felt it necessary to issue a reprimand. It also directed that he pay costs of $1,500 in relation to the disciplinary proceedings.

See also

• Ethan Gutmann
• David Kilgour
• Edward McMillan-Scott

External links

• Biographyat University of Winnipeg
• Biographyat Canadian Political Science Students' Association