A. Cameron Ward

cward@cameronward.com

Cameron Ward attended law school at the University of Ottawa and was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1984.  He practises civil litigation, administrative law and criminal law with a focus on social justice, civil liberties, environmental law and indigenous issues. He has appeared as counsel in all levels of British Columbia courts and in the Supreme Court of Canada.  In one of his Supreme Court of Canada cases, he successfully represented Ivan Henry, who was the victim of a notorious wrongful conviction.  Mr. Ward has also appeared before numerous tribunals, including the RCMP Public Complaints Commission’s APEC hearing (where he represented student demonstrators whose rights were infringed by police), the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Frank Paul (where he represented an indigenous organization concerned about the death of an indigenous man at the hands of police) and the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (where he represented the families of dozens of missing and murdered women who were concerned about the adequacy of the police investigation into their deaths).  He has also appeared in over a dozen coroner’s inquests on behalf of the families of those who died at the hands of police.

Mr. Ward has also been active in professional activities.  He has served as an elected Bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia and as an elected member of the Provincial Council of the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia Branch.  Mr. Ward frequently participates in continuing legal education seminars and other presentations and has published articles in the Environmental Law Journal, the Alberta Law Review, The Advocate, The Globe and Mail and Common Ground. He has received a number of awards for his legal work, including the Victoria Human Rights Institute’s Human Rights Medal, the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia’s Bar Award and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association’s Reg Robson Award.

Years after becoming well known as an outspoken advocate for victims of police misconduct, Mr. Ward was himself wrongfully detained and strip searched by Vancouver police.  He sued and fought that case to the Supreme Court of Canada where, in a unanimous landmark decision, the court held for the first time that damages were available for breaches of the rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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