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Benjamin Perrin

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Benjamin Perrin
A black-and-white photograph of a man with dark hair and a cleft chin wearing glasses and looking at the viewer while smiling
Perrin in 2009
NationalityCanadian
Known forInvisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking
Scientific career
FieldsCriminal law
Human trafficking
InstitutionsOffice of the Prime Minister
Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia
Websitewww.law.ubc.ca/faculty/Perrin/web/index.html

Benjamin Perrin is a law professor and former legal advisor to the Prime Minister's Office under Stephen Harper. Currently, he is a professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia.[1] Perrin, who was supporter that shaped Harper's tough on crime policies during his time as advisor,[2] has now become a supporter of transformative justice.[3]

Career

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Political career

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He moved to Ottawa, Ontario in the late 1990s in order to become a policy intern for the Reform Party of Canada.[4]

Perrin helped Joy Smith develop the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking.[5] In the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report by the United States Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, he was the only Canadian named a TIP Hero.[6] Perrin spoke at the news conference at the Vancouver American consulate during which the TIP report was released, and he called for Stephen Harper "to announce that he will enact a national action plan to combat human trafficking to follow up on the measures that his government has already taken."[7] Perrin said that not having such a plan in place makes Canada look bad internationally and also prevents the issue of human trafficking from being adequately addressed.[8] Perrin argued that, if the plan was to be effective, it needed to establish a strategy for preventing human trafficking, protecting victims, and prosecuting traffickers.[7] He further said that the establishment of a national action plan on this issue "should be a priority for our federal government to end this atrocious crime that is flourishing in Canada."[5]

He eventually was appointed "Special Adviser and Legal Counsel to the Prime Minister", and acted as a lead policy adviser in the PMO on subjects of relevance to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, the Department of Justice, and Public Safety Canada.[9]

Canada Senate Expenses Scandal

In 2013, Perrin was implicated in the Canadian Senate expenses scandal.[10]

He was named in an "Information to Obtain" police request related to the scandal.[11] In a letter to the RCMP's assistant commissioner Gilles Michaud, the PCO said it had informed the Prime Minister's Office that emails from Perrin, who allegedly helped broker a deal between Nigel Wright and Sen. Mike Duffy were not deleted, as had mistakenly been believed, following Perrin's abrupt departure from the PMO in March 2013. The PCO letter states the account was not deleted, as is standard practice, but in fact frozen due to unrelated litigation.[12] On 30 July 2014, the Law Society of British Columbia announced that it closed its file related to Perrin's alleged role in the affair because the complaint was not valid.[13] On 25 October 2014, the Law Society of Upper Canada also reported that after fully investigating, it had no concerns whatsoever with Perrin's conduct as a lawyer.[14]

Perrin believes that Harper was self aware of the payoff to Duffy.[15]

Academic career

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In April 2013, Perrin left the Office of the Prime Minister and took up a position on the Faculty of Law at UBC.[9]

In January 2020, Perrin took out an op-ed in Calgary Herald, explaining how evidence that he collected made him more supportive for supervised consumption sites.[16] He later explained to Toronto Star columnist Susan Delacourt that he now opposes tough on crime policies. Perrin explain that his change of heart was primary driven by his Christian faith and his opposition to tough on crime policies had quiet support from some Conservative former MPs and advisers.[15] In October 2023, Perrin, took out an op-ed in the Globe and Mail that explain why he believe tough on crime policies would not effectively tackle crime and gave some ideas on how transformative justice could.[17]

Books

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Benjamin Perrin is the author of several books, including Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World Of Human Trafficking (2010), Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada's Opioid Crisis (2020), and Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial (2023).

His 2010 book Invisible Chains: Canada's Underground World of Human Trafficking. This book deals extensively with a gang of pimps called North Preston's Finest[18] and includes an account of the disappearance of Jessie Foster. Perrin received a George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature nomination for having written this book.[19]

Personal life

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Perrin lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[19] He is of Christian faith.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Benjamin Perrin | Peter A. Allard School of Law". allard.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  2. ^ Gallant, Jacques (2024-03-01). "He helped shape Stephen Harper's 'tough on crime' agenda. It's why he says Doug Ford is wrong to stack the courts". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  3. ^ a b Ivison, John. "John Ivison: How Harper's former 'tough on crime' adviser flipped to completely opposing prisons". National Post.
  4. ^ Stephen Maher (October 25, 2013). "MPs demand answers over role of Tory lawyer Arthur Hamilton in Mike Duffy spending affair". Postmedia News. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  5. ^ a b "National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking Required". The Filipino Journal. Vol. 7, no. 9. September 2013. Archived from the original on November 25, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
  6. ^ "2009 TIP Report Heroes". United States Department of State. 2009. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  7. ^ a b "U.S. tells Canada: Harsher sentences needed for sex traffickers". The News. June 17, 2009. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  8. ^ Tamara Cherry (June 14, 2010). "Report, experts call for national strategy on human trafficking". The London Free Press. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  9. ^ a b Andrea Janus (May 20, 2013). "PM's former legal advisor arranged deal for Wright to give Duffy $90K". CTV News. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  10. ^ Michael Den Tandt (October 29, 2013). "Michael Den Tandt: Where is Stephen Harper's famous resourcefulness in the Senate scandal?". National Post. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014.
  11. ^ G+M: "Documents: Stunning revelations from the investigation into Duffy's expenses, residency" 5 Jul 2013
  12. ^ ctvnews.ca: "Ex-PMO lawyer's emails not deleted: PCO to RCMP" 1 Dec 2013
  13. ^ / "B.C. law society won't investigate former PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin" 30 Jul 2014
  14. ^ / "Case closed on lawyers in Mike Duffy-Nigel Wright affair" 25 Oct 2014
  15. ^ a b Columnist, Susan Delacourt National (2020-01-28). "Susan Delacourt: Here's why a Stephen Harper loyalist regrets the tough-on-crime politics he once practised". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  16. ^ Perrin, Benjamin (January 25, 2020). "Opinion: I used to believe safe drug sites were bad, but I was wrong".
  17. ^ "Opinion: From 'tough on crime' to a new transformative vision for Canada's justice system". The Globe and Mail. 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  18. ^ Julian Sher (October 15, 2010). "Sex trafficking: A national disgrace". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  19. ^ a b "Local authors up for Ryga award". Kamloops This Week. August 4, 2011. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
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