Congratulations to Kelly Burke, a graduate of the French Common Law Program at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (class of 1994), for her appointment as Ontario's French Language Services Commissioner.
Professors Yves Le Bouthillier, François Larocque and Alain Roussy, who, like the entire Franco-Ontarian community, deplore the abolition of the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner in 2019 by the Ontario provincial government, are very pleased with Ms. Burke's appointment.
Kelly Burke was Assistant Deputy Minister for the Ontario government's Ministries of Francophone Affairs (2014-2019) and Colleges and Universities (2019). She has worked in the public service for almost 20 years.
At the creation of pratiquO, the Centre for Continuing Professional Development at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, she immediately became a key person in greatly facilitating the dialogue between pratiquO and the Ontario government. Professor Alain Roussy, pratiquO's Director from 2017 to 2019, has fond memories of his discussions with Ms. Burke. He mentions in particular her competence, her understanding of the importance of the mission of pratiquO, her generosity and her sustained involvement with the francophone training centre.
" From the beginning, Ms. Burke has been one of our biggest supporters, and working with her has been a real pleasure! "
- Professor Alain Roussy, Director of pratiquO (2017-2019)
In the same vein, Professor François Larocque has had the opportunity to collaborate with Ms. Burke on a number of occasions as Associate Dean of the French Common Law Program and Acting Dean of the Common Law Section. He confided that it is thanks to Ms. Burke's good offices with the various Ontario government departments that the Common Law Section was able to obtain the financial support needed to start up a practice. "I'm very grateful to her," says Professor Larocque.
Thanks to the support of the Ontario government, pratiquO offers continuing professional development to Ontario's French-speaking lawyers and paralegals, enabling them to meet the requirements of the Ontario Bar in French. pratiquO also offers French-language training to other stakeholders in the justice system.
For his part, the current Associate Dean of the French Common Law Program, Yves Le Bouthillier, says that Ms. Burke has always been keenly interested in the program's many activities.
The Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa is very proud to count Kelly Burke among its graduates and wishes her every success in her new position!