Honourable Robert Décary, Q.C.

The Honourable Robert Décary, Q.C., was Communications Security Establishment Commissioner from June 18, 2010 to October 17, 2013. 

Born in Montréal on May 26, 1944, Mr. Décary was educated at Jean-de-Brébeuf College, the Université de Montréal and the University of London (U.K.).  He was called to the Québec Bar in 1967 and practiced law in Montréal and in the National Capital area with a number of law firms until 1990 when he was appointed to the Federal Court of Canada, Appeal Division and to the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada. 

Mr. Décary was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1986.

Mr. Décary was special assistant to the Honourable Mitchell Sharp, Secretary of State for External Affairs from 1970 to 1973 and served with the Task Force on Canadian Unity (Pepin-Robarts Report).  He served as Agent in the Supreme Court of Canada for the Attorney General of Québec from 1981-1990. He was a member of the Federal Department of Justice French Constitutional Drafting Committee and a member of the Québec Government Advisory Committee on the Reorganization of the Police Forces in that province.

An active contributor to numerous legal publications, Mr. Décary also published several books on the Constitution and the Supreme Court of Canada.

In 2009, Mr. Décary was appointed as a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.