The Yukon Human Rights Commission is pleased to announce its new Director of Human Rights, Birju Dattani. The Director is the senior management position with the Commission and is responsible for the day to day work of the Commission as well as for outreach and initiatives.
Birju has extensive academic and practical experience in the field of human rights. He was awarded an LL.B. (with Honours) by the University of Wales in Aberstwyth, a Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Legal Skills by the City University of London and an LL.M. in Public International Law by the London School of Economics and Political Science. In addition, Birju has spent time studying at the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Since 2017 he has been the Assistant Regional Director with the Alberta Human Rights Commission where he had a wide range of duties including providing oversight and supervision on the Alberta Commission’s investigation and conciliation programmes, delivering educational workshops and providing advice to other senior executives on a wide array of legislative, political and regulatory matters. Before taking that position, he worked as a Legal Research Associate for the Director of the Alberta Commission’s Legal Counsel, was a teaching fellow at the Department of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and was the Director of Legal Operations, International Law at the Syrian Legal Development Programme under the auspices of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
We are very happy to have Birju staring with us as Director of the Commission and we look forward to the experience and the expertise that he will bring to our work under the Human Rights Act and to our major initiative, funded by the Department of Justice Canada, on Workplace Sexual Harassment. I look forward to introducing him to the public at the Yukon Human Rights Commission‘s annual celebration of International Human Rights Day which will take place on Thursday December 10th, 2020 and which will be modified this year to ensure compliance with all Covid-19 prevention guidelines.
I’d also like to thank both Lesley McCullough who has acted as Director for the past ten months and former Director, Jessica Lott-Thompson, for their contributions to the Commission.
– Gavin Gardiner, Co-Chair