From 1986 to 1995, Ms. Dawson was the head of the Department of Justice Public Law Sector, including the traditional public law areas of constitutional, administrative and international law as well as human rights law, native law, judicial affairs, access and privacy law and regulatory affairs.
She was Associate Chief Legislative Counsel from 1980 to 1986 and Chair of the Statute Revision Commission through most of the 1980s. She joined the Legislation Section of the Department of Justice in 1970 and drafted such laws as the Access to Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Canada Health Act, the Official Languages Act, the Competition Act, the Customs Act and the Young Offenders Act.
Ms. Dawson has also been involved in a number of international activities, as well as various outreach activities in Canada. She has held executive positions in the International Bar Association and was a Canadian member of the Joint Steering Committee of the Joint Canada-Russia project on Public Administration Reform in Russia.
Ms. Dawson was a Skelton-Clark Fellow at Queen’s University in 1999-2000, lecturing in several faculties. She has also published articles on various subjects.
After her retirement from the Department of Justice and, before her appointment as Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner in 2007, Ms. Dawson acted as a consultant on a variety of projects, in both the public and private sectors.
Mrs. Dawson continues to take an active part in her community. She was appointed in June 2006 to the Board of Governors of The Ottawa Hospital, served on a number of committees of the Board throughout her tenure, and was Chair of the Quality Committee of the Board from 2009 to 2013. She now holds the position of Governor Emeritus at The Ottawa Hospital, and will also serve as an Adjunct Governor of the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre. She has been a long-time member of the Friends of English Theatre at the National Arts Centre and is currently serving as chair.
Ms. Dawson holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours Philosophy) and a Bachelor of Civil Law from McGill University, a Bachelor of Laws (Common Law) from Dalhousie University and a Diplôme d’études supérieures en droit (droit public) from the University of Ottawa. She is a non-practicing member of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society and an active member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. She also retained her membership in her original Bar, the Barreau du Québec, until her retirement from the Department of Justice in 2005.
