Judicial Advisory Committee: Tax Court of Canada

Backgrounder

Biographies

Nominating Body

Name

City

Biography

Chief Justice

The Honourable Randall S. Bocock

Ottawa

The Honourable Randall S. Bocock was appointed to the Tax Court of Canada on September 29, 2011. Justice Bocock was educated at McMaster University (B.A. 1982) and the University of Ottawa (LL.B. 1985). He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1987 and practised law as a student, associate, and partner with Evans Philp LLP in Hamilton for over 25 years. Before his appointment to the judiciary, he was head of the firm’s Business and Property Law Group, chair of the firm’s management committee, and secretary to the partnership.

Justice Bocock has served as chair of the Federation of Ontario Law Associations (formerly CDLPA), president of the Hamilton Law Association, former lifelong member of the Canadian Association of University Solicitors, executive member of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, and Law Society-nominated director of the Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company (LawPRO). Within the community, Justice Bocock was a director of the McMaster University Foundation, president of the McMaster Alumni Association, and actively involved as a founding director and secretary of the Hamilton Shelter Health Network.

Since his appointment, Justice Bocock has chaired the Tax Court’s judicial education committee and served on the permanent program committee of the International Association of Tax Judges.

 

Minister of Justice

Michel Bourque

Calgary

Michel Bourque holds an undergraduate degree in finance (1993) and an LL.B. (1996), both from the Université de Moncton. He also received an LL.M. in taxation from Osgoode Hall Law School (2009). Following law school, he clerked for the Chief Justice of New Brunswick and then clerked for Justice Gerald J. Rip, who later would become the Chief Justice of the Tax Court of Canada. As counsel, Mr. Bourque has focused on tax litigation since 1998. He currently practises at KPMG Law LLP in Calgary.

Mr. Bourque is particularly committed to volunteer work in support of Calgary’s gay and lesbian communities. From 2007 to2010, he served on the board of the AIDS Calgary Awareness Association (now called HIV Community Link), an organization focused on health promotion and services for individuals and communities affected by HIV/AIDS. Since 2011, Mr. Bourque has been an advisor to the Calgary Chinook Fund, an endowment fund of the Calgary Foundation established to provide ongoing long-term funding of LGBTQ2 charities in Calgary. Mr. Bourque was recently elected Vice-Chair of the Board of the Calgary Sexual Health Centre, an organization that aims to normalize sexual health in Alberta by providing evidence-informed, non-judgemental sexual and reproductive health programs and services. Finally, Mr. Bourque serves as Vice-President of the Mount Royal Community Association, in Mount Royal where he lives with his spouse and their two dogs.

Minister of Justice

Kim Brooks

Halifax

Kim Brooks is a professor and former dean (2010-2015) of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. She holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto, an LL.B. from the University of British Columbia, and an LL.M. in taxation from Osgoode Hall Law School. Prof. Brooks began her career practising tax law with Stikeman Elliott in Toronto and London, before turning her focus to academia. She has taught taxation at Queen’s University, the University of British Columbia, and McGill University. Prof. Brooks received the 3M National Teaching Fellowship in 2010 in recognition of her deep-seated commitment to innovative teaching and classroom exchange. Her scholarship on tax law and policy has received six Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grants to date.

Outside of academia, Prof. Brooks has contributed to a broad array of national organizations, particularly those focused on taxation, public policy, and the promotion of substantive equality. Prof. Brooks currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Canada Revenue Agency’s Offshore Compliance Advisory Committee. She is a director of the Institute for Research on Public Policy and a member of the Board of Governors of the Canadian Tax Foundation. Previously, Prof. Brooks served on the advisory committee for the Court Challenges Program (2000-2006). She is a former Chair of the Board of Women’s LEAF (Legal Education and Action Fund).

Minister of Justice

Nathalie Goyette

Montreal

Nathalie Goyette received her LL.L. from the University of Ottawa (1988) and her LL.B. from Dalhousie University (1989), in addition to an LL.M. in taxation from the Université de Sherbrooke (1998). Admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1990, she has significant experience in tax litigation on both the government and taxpayer sides. Fluently bilingual, she spent the first 16 years of her career with the federal Department of Justice. Since 2011, she has been a tax litigation partner with PwC Law in Montreal.

Ms. Goyette has been a member of Tax Court of Canada Rules Committee since 2007. She previously served as a Governor of the Canadian Tax Foundation from 2012-2014, in addition to publishing and presenting widely on topics related to taxation. Outside of her professional work, Ms. Goyette has served on a fundraising committee for the Foundation of the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art since 2010.

Minister of Justice

Vern Krishna

Ottawa

Vern Krishna has been a professor of taxation, business law, and corporate finance at the University of Ottawa since 1981. His scholarship has been cited in hundreds of Canadian cases, including 31 decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. Prof. Krishna, who has taught and practised tax law for 50 years, is also tax counsel with Tax Chambers LLP in Toronto. He received an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Manchester, before going on to receive an LL.B. and M.B.A. from the University of Alberta and an LL.M. from Harvard University.

Prof. Krishna twice served as a commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission (1994-1997 and 2010-2014). He is a former president of the Certified General Accountants Association of Ontario (1995) and former treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada (2001-2003). In recognition of his accomplishments, Prof. Krishna was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1992 and became a member of the Order of Canada in 2004. He received an honorary doctorate from the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2004.

Search for related information by keyword: Law | Department of Justice Canada | Canada | Justice | general public | backgrounders

Page details

Date modified: