The Honorable Michel M.J. Shore was born in Paris, France in 1948. He came to Canada at the age of three. Michel Shore studied at Collège Notre-Dame in Montreal, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (in 1969). In the summer of 1966, he was invited to study at the Université de la Paix in Tihange lez Huy, in Belgium, under the direction of Father Dominique Pire, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1958 for his dedicated work with refugees after the Second World War. He then studied at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Law, Licentiate in Laws (in 1972) and at McGill University, M.A. in Philosophy (also in 1972). He was called to the Quebec Bar in 1976. He also pursued doctoral studies at Dropsie University, now The Annenberg Institute (University of Pennsylvania).
In 1979 he began his career as counsel for the Government of Canada in International Law. Among his legal functions, he represented Canada at several United Nations fora, including in the areas of trade, maritime law (indeed, when he was a young lawyer in 1976, he was legal editor at the Seaports and the Shipping World journal), human rights and environmental issues. From 1986 to 1988 he was Chief of Coordination and Evidence, and Counsel in the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Section of the Department of Justice of Canada. After being appointed to the Immigration and Refugee Board in 1988 (until 2003) in Montreal, where he specialized in war crimes and crimes against humanity, he worked as a member-coordinator at the Board.
Michel Shore was appointed Judge of the Federal Court on November 4, 2003, ex officio member of the Federal Court of Appeal and Judge of the Court Martial Appeal Court on March 23, 2004. Among his duties, Michel Shore has also worked as judge-mediator for the Court in resolving conflicts, where he has innovatively used aboriginal custom as a means for resolving disputes. He has also acted as mediator for the Court between the government and Canadian soldiers who have served overseas and who, upon their return, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Michel Shore was an executive member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Conference of Judicial Mediation (CCJM).
As for teaching responsibilities as a Federal Court judge, Michel Shore chose to be partnered with the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) shortly after being appointed to the Court. On UQAM’s website, appear certain of his legal-literary works, which are used as teaching instruments, such as: The Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry, as a subject to explore provincial, national legislation, and international conventions on child protection as well as refugee protection; the life of Janusz Korczak (father of the Convention on the Rights of the Child), as a judgment-teaching-instrument in which eleven recommendations are formulated as a basis to develop pragmatic programs to promote children’s rights; and, also, a judgment-teaching-instrument treating domestic violence as based on the story of Scheherazade.
During his tenure on the Federal Court, Michel Shore participated annually in the Université de Montréal Law Faculty’s Moot Court Program, sitting as a judge on teaching-instrument cases in which students learn the legislation and jurisprudence in intellectual property law in the area of trademarks.
Among his international teaching engagements, Michel Shore has given lectures in various venues: at Harvard’s François-Xavier Center and at the Commonwealth Magistrates' and Judges' Association; he has also delivered speeches to overseas decision-makers and students on subjects such as war crimes and crimes against humanity, refugees, human rights, international law and mediation. Furthermore, Michel Shore was one of three coordinators from Canada selected to refer judgments to the international website, Refugee Case Law, established by Professor James C. Hathaway of the University of Michigan.
Michel Shore is the author of several literary works including essays, short stories and poems.
