Item - 2009.CC38.25

City Council on August 5 and 6, 2009 adopted the following:

1.         City Council approve the appointment of the Integrity Commissioner as recommended in confidential Attachment 1 effective September 8, 2009 or the date upon which the recommended candidate enters into an employment agreement with the City of Toronto, whichever occurs last.

2.         City Council authorize the City Manager to execute an employment agreement with the recommended candidate based on the provisions outlined in the Policy Framework for Toronto’s Accountability Officers as approved by City Council at its meeting on April 29 and 30, 2009, and to execute any related documents as necessary.

3.         City Council grant authority for the introduction of any necessary bills to give effect to these recommendations.

4.         City Council authorize the public release of the name and summary profile of the new Integrity Commissioner contained in confidential Attachment 1 upon approval of the appointment of the Integrity Commissioner and at the conclusion of the August 5 and 6, 2009 Council meeting. 

The name and summary profile of the new Integrity Commissioner contained in Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (July 30, 2009) from Mayor David Miller, is now public.  The balance of Confidential Attachment 1 remains confidential in accordance with the provisions of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, as it contains information about personal matters about an identifiable individual and labour relations or employee negotiations:

Integrity Commissioner – Recommended for appointment:

-           Janet Leiper

Summary Profile for Janet Leiper

Janet Leiper is a practicing lawyer and an adjudicator.  She has practiced administrative and criminal law in Toronto since her call to the Bar in 1987.  She has extensive experience with investigations, prosecutions and defence work on behalf of lawyers and the Law Society of Upper Canada.  She is a former part time Assistant Crown Attorney.

She was made Visiting Professor, Public Interest Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2007. From 2007-2009, she was the Director of the Osgoode Public Interest Requirement and in that capacity implemented the first Canadian mandatory public interest graduation requirement for law students.  In 2008-2009, she taught criminal procedure and ethical lawyering.

From 2004-2007, she was appointed by the Government of Ontario to serve as Chair of Legal Aid Ontario.

She is a Certified Specialist in Criminal Law and sits on the Certified Specialist Board, Law Society of Upper Canada.  She has served as independent counsel to a number of regulated health professional colleges, including the Massage Therapists of Ontario, the College of Dental Technologists and the College of Pharmacists of Ontario. She served from 2003-2004 as Counsel to the Ontario Review Board.

She was the Head of Section for the Criminal Law Section of the Bar Admission Course from 1997-2004.  She is an Alternate Chair of both the Ontario Review Board and the Nunavut Review Board, and presides over hearings to determine the liberty of persons found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder and persons found unfit to stand trial.

She is the recipient of the 2009 Laura Legge Award from the Law Society of Upper Canada, presented to a woman who has exemplified leadership in the legal profession.