Human Rights, the Sustainable Development Goals & the Law International Legal Symposium & Hon Justice CD Gonthier Memorial Lectures 2020

Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals present a short and long-term vision for current and future generations worldwide, and human rights law and practice is at the heart of this vision. Indeed, as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has noted, “the SDGs are a truly universal framework and will be applicable to all countries.”

This bi-annual celebration of the legacy of the Honorable Justice Charles D. Gonthier, distinguished Canadian jurist, mentor and friend, will focus on the legal insights and innovations which contribute to implementing the SDGs in a manner that integrates and respects human rights and justice. Experts, law-makers, judges, scholars and practitioners will consider novel and contextual solutions to a wide variety of legal problems, gaining inspiration from values that are essential to our society. Justice Gonthier developed these values in several legal domains, across common law, Quebec civil law, and internationally. This special event considers, critiques and celebrates the developments in Quebec, Canadian and international law and governance which prioritize the needs and rights of current and future generations, and seek to deliver the SDGs locally, nationally and globally.

This 2020 International Symposium on Human Rights, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Law will feature 2 days of academic panel presentations by those working on cutting edge research, culminating in a special event in the Canadian legal calendar, the Hon CD Gonthier Memorial Lectures.

Key themes for the Symposium focus on three pillars identified by the UN OHCHR:

• The transformative shift in legal and development practice embodied in the vision of the SDGs as “an agenda for people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.”
• The comprehensive nature and treatment of human rights in the SDGs, “including economic, civil, cultural, political, social rights and the right to development.”
• The inclusivity of the SDGs in relation to the human rights guaranteed to all citizens and in all aspects of society.