Mark Persaud (lawyer)

Mark M. Persaud is a Canadian lawyer, social entrepreneur, civic leader, and public figure. He is a former federal prosecutor. He is currently a senior legal counsel at the Persaud Law Group Professional Corporation.

Mark M. Persaud

Childhood

Persaud was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) in South America where he grew up and attended high school. He was active in politics as a student and eventually departed to Canada alone as a youth in the 1980's as a result of civil and political unrest in his country of birth.[1] He started life in Canada [2]as a homeless youth on the streets of Toronto in winter from where he was rescued by the Scott Mission, a Christian outreach organisation.[3]

Education

Dr. Persaud attended York University where he read political science. He then attended Osgoode Hall Law School for his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B. in 1991) and Master of Laws (LL.M. in 2001). He also studied at the Center for Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard University. On June 17th, 2016, he received a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) honoris causa from the Law Society of Upper Canada.

He has also been an educator and mentor to numerous students and young professionals. He taught constitutional and administrative law as an adjunct law professor at the University of Western Michigan Law School.

Early career

He was the founder and director of several non-governmental organisations providing advocacy and services for refugees, immigrants and others. These include the Toronto United Church Emergency Refugee Relief, the Working Group on Refugee Resettlement and the Canadian International Peace Project. Much of his work with refugees was initially funded by the United Church of Canada. He has personally assisted thousands of refugees and immigrants from all regions of the globe over the years.

He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1993. He worked as a legal counsel and federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice (Canada) for approximately ten years. During this period, he was also seconded to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as legal counsel.

He subsequently worked in a private law firm in Toronto where he practised in both civil, criminal and regulatory law before starting the Persaud Law Group[4] in 2011.

Politics

He was twice elected to the National Executive of the Liberal Party of Canada. He served as an Advisor to a Federal Cabinet Minister.[5] He has also chaired and advised on political campaigns at the Federal, Provincial and Municipal levels. As a result of internal disagreements with senior staff to Prime Minister Paul Martin regarding the unequal treatment of minorities in the party he left the Liberal Party of Canada and publicly supported the Conservative Party of Canada[6] in the 2008 election. He is currently not affiliated to any political party.

Awards and recognitions

In 1986, three years after arriving in Canada, he was nominated and short listed for the Toronto Man of the Year in the Toronto Star newspaper for his work with refugees. He was also the founder, director, advisor and volunteer with non-profit organisations and has won awards and recognitions for his public service. These achievements include the 2007 Alumni Public Sector Law Gold Key award from Osgoode Hall Law School, both the Queen Golden and Queen Diamond Jubilee medals for leadership and service to Canada. He also was awarded a Canada 150 Anniversary Medal in recognition of his many contributions. He was nominated by the diplomatic community for the 2006 Seoul Peace Prize and recognised by The Law Society of Upper Canada as an exceptional lawyer (1941–present) as part of their Lawyers Make History Project.[7] He was also received a Doctorate of Laws (LL.D.) honoris causa from the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Human rights

He has been an dedicated human rights activist for over three decades. He has worked on refugee protection, racial and gender equality and homelessness. He publicly alleged racism and discrimination at the Department of Justice when he was invited to testify before the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights.[8][9] As a result of his testimony before the Senate Committee exposing discrimination in the public service, the Department off Justice mandated that over 600 of its most senior lawyers and managers to take mandatory diversity training.

Social Entrepreneur and Community Leader

Mark Persaud is the founder, director, advisor and volunteer with numerous not-for profit organisations assisting the most vulnerable members of society as well as a committed advocate for fairness and equality. Over the course of his extensive work in the community, he has personally assisted thousands of vulnerable and disadvantaged persons.[10] He is also the Founder and President of the Canadian International Peace Project (CIPP), an organisation that promotes inter-community goodwill through building relationships between diverse national, ethnic, religious, and community organisations.[11]. Among its grounding breaking projects internationally and domestically, Persaud initiated the Afghan Mosque Project wherein Canadians of all backgrounds including Christian, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists came together and rebuilt a damaged mosque in Afghanistan post 9/11 as a symbol of Canadian unity and pluralism and a statement that any fight against extremists must avoid targeting and stereotyping religious and other minorities. The Jewish-Somali Mentorship Project was another ground breaking project initiated by Persaud and the Canadian International Peace Project that was national in scope. It brought together Jewish professionals and Canadian Somali university students to provide mentorship to members of Canada's largest African diaspora community and one of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

gollark: The mekanism ones are a bit crazy. If you want oxygen, feeding the separator RF from its own hydrogen run through a gas-burning generator, *it works fine*.
gollark: Even when I had about 8 upgraded ones.
gollark: The nuclearcraft ones are just too slow.
gollark: Copy in a known-good reactor constantly to avert meltdown issues, replace all cooling with moderators and cells packed as densely as possible, figure out how to automate all components from raw resources, feed most power-producing fuel, repeat.
gollark: Oh yeah, copy in a known-good reactor constantly.

References
  1. "Navigating challenges faced by minorities and women in the legal profession – NSRLP". Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  2. "Navigating challenges faced by minorities and women in the legal profession – NSRLP". Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  3. "Navigating challenges faced by minorities and women in the legal profession – NSRLP". Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  4. "Persaud Law Group". Persaud Law Group. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  5. "Mark Persaud". www.taaproject.com. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  6. {{Cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/01/12/harper_says_defections_prove_tory_appeal.html|title=The second defection of a former high-ranking Liberal to the Conservative party in less than a week illustrates that the Tories are winning over ethnic voters across Canada, and particularly in the Toronto area, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.|last=Woods|first=Allan|date=2007-01-12|newspaper=The Toronto Star|issn=0319-0781|access-date=2016-03-02}}
  7. "Diversifying the Bar: Lawyers Make History | The Law Society of Upper Canada". www.lsuc.on.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  8. "Mark Persaud rocked Justice Canada with his allegations of systemic racism". Canada.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-19. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  9. Naumetz, Tim. "Lawyer tells Senate he was driven out". www.lawtimesnews.com. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  10. "'It sucked the soul out of me'". Ottawa Citizen. March 9, 2008.
  11. Reporter, Paul Lungen, Staff. "CIPP leader honoured for humanitarian work - The Canadian Jewish News". The Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
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