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CENTRAL tomorrow the world Today Montreal, initiatives around the world and closer international relations. Since the Montreal Charter of Rights and Responsibilities was F adopted in 2005 and came into effect in 2006, it has been translated into Spanish and Portuguese, and this past May an Arabic version was com- pleted. Now the city is organizing to translate it into Mandarin as part of a campaign to promote the city's openness and respect for diversity. The Montreal charter was inspired by the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City. Plans to create a similar document for Montreal were first publicly unveiled on Dec. 10, 2003, the 55th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was McGill University law professor John Humphrey who drafted the blueprint for that universal legal document. The Montreal char- ter has also attracted international attention. "The United Nations is studying very closely the Montreal charter and they want to try and promote the adoption of similar legislation in other cities worldwide," says Johanne Savard, the lawyer who is ombudsman of Montreal and the person of last recourse to ensure the city administration respects commitments in the Montreal charter. Savard says what makes the Montreal charter unique is the legal binding power it has over city officials. "There is a charter for the municipalities in Europe, but it is statement of values and there are no commitments, whereas the Montreal charter contains strict commit- ments," says Savard. The charter cannot be invoked as a basis for legal action against the city, but has been used to resolve problems regarding low-cost housing, services for the disadvantaged, and "about 99 per cent of the recommendations we issue are being respected by the city." On the flipside, city officials used the responsibilities of citizens in the char- ter to support implementation of a bylaw two years ago obliging mer- chants on main arteries to keep space in front of their property clean. Translating the charter into Mandarin should take about 18 months, says James Archibald, director of translation studies at the McGill University Centre for Continuing Education. Archibald's depart- ment, working with the Quebec department of international relations, chooses a university abroad to draft the translation and selects a lawyer to serve as adviser on legal terminology. The translation team worked with the Université Libanaise in Beirut and Paris- and Lebanon-based lawyer Atef El-Khoury on the Arabic version. The team plans to co- ordinate the Mandarin version with a Chinese university affiliated with the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, with input from Montreal lawyer Ning Yu and McGill translation studies graduate Ernest Leong. — KATHRYN LEGER kathryn.leger@videotron.ca www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com SEPTEMBER 2010 7 ive years after Montreal became the first major Canadian city to adopt a charter outlining the rights and responsibilities of its citi- zens, the document is a calling card to promote urban democracy Peak experience for literacy the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, that is. Christopher Bredt, a senior litigation partner A at the firm's Toronto office, spearheaded the July trek to Africa's highest peak to raise money for the Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE). The Ottawa charity promotes lit- eracy in the developing world by training teachers and librarians, backing local pub- lishing efforts, creating librar- ies, and delivering donated books. "I really believe that the key to development in Africa is through education, and particularly education of children and women and girls," says Bredt, a longtime CODE board member and former chairman. "And the end of the day, it's education that enables a country to move out of a developmental status and move ahead." Bredt, who led a similar fundraiser in 2006, was group led by five Borden Ladner Gervais LLP lawyers took its effort to improve literacy to exceptional heights — nearly 5,900 metres to The full team at the summit of Kilimanjaro. joined by fellow BLG lawyers Bill Carter, Shelley Munro, Michael Smith, and national managing part- ner Sean Weir. Other lawyers in the group of 13 climbers included Jed Chinneck of London, Ont., and Real Estate Council of Ontario counsel Tim Snell. The group had raised just under $179,000 by the end of July, but with the Canadian International Development Agency topping that off with a 3:1 matching grant, the efforts had brought in over $700,000 for CODE. "Adrenaline junkie" Smith says the climb was up there with his past escapades of diving with sharks and bungee jumping from the world's highest plat- form. "The [guides] say this will be the most difficult thing you've every done; they're right. The last day on that climb to the summit you're saying, 'What the heck am I doing on this mountain?' But you just keep banging away until you get there." — ROBERT TODD rtodd@clbmedia.ca