Michel Picher, Law ‘72, receives national labour law award

Photo courtesy of Lancaster House

Anil Verma, a professor and Interim Director of the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto, presents the Bora Laskin Award to Michel Picher, Law '72, at the awards dinner held at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto on October 21, 2009.

Prominent labour arbitrator Michel Picher, Law ‘72, received the 2009 Bora Laskin Award for his outstanding contributions to Canadian labour law on October 21, 2009. The award, established by the University of Toronto in honour of the late former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice, was presented at a special dinner closing Lancaster House's Conference on Canadian Labour Board Law in Toronto.

“The Bora Laskin Award is the most significant labour law award in Canada,” said Professor Emeritus Bernie Adell, one of Picher’s former teachers, “And Michel is one of Canada’s most outstanding arbitrators and adjudicators.”

“I am profoundly touched by this honour,” Picher said. “The labour arbitration system developed in Canada has become a world leading standard for industrial relations peace and stability.”  

Picher, who served as president of the National Academy of Arbitrators from 2008-09, has arbitrated hundreds of disputes in industries ranging from professional sports and police and fire services to hospitals and health care institutions. A former law professor at the University of Ottawa and Ontario Labour Relations Board vice-chair, the Harvard LL.M. graduate has published articles on numerous labour law issues in the Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal, Labour Arbitration Yearbook, and Canadian Bar Review.

"Over the past 33 years Michel has made an impressive contribution to Canadian labour relations,” said Professor Emeritus Don Carter, Law ‘66, a former teacher and Ontario Labour Relations Board colleague of Picher’s. “He has been an outstanding adjudicator and mediator, respected by labour, management and his colleagues. As a long time executive member of the National Academy of Arbitrators, he has played a leading role in developing the arbitration profession in both Canada and the United States. The recognition of these accomplishments by his receipt of the Bora Laskin Award is richly deserved.”

Picher’s extraordinary contributions to his field include his appearance in 2001 before the Supreme Court of Canada, where he successfully argued the Judges Case on behalf of the National Academy of Arbitrators.

"It ensured the preservation of the integrity of the labour arbitration process in Canada,” said arbitrator Pam Picher, Law ‘73. “He was then defending the values he had learned from Don Carter, Bernie Adell and Innis Christie in our years at Queen's Law."

“It is incumbent on us all,” Michel Picher added, “whether advocates or arbitrators, to exercise vigilance to protect our much-valued principled labour arbitration system."

Michel Picher, Law ‘72, with Professor Emeritus Don Carter, Law '66, at the awards dinner.

Michel Picher, Law ‘72, with CAW national representative Abe Rosner at the awards dinner.