Thomas Kuttner
Thomas Kuttner pursued Ancient Near Eastern studies and Jewish and Islamic history prior to studying law, and holds degrees in these fields after studies at the University of Toronto, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Chicago. He received his law training at Toronto [LLB 1975; LLM 1981] and joined the Faculty in 1979. He has been a member of the Ontario Bar [1977-1983] and a member of the New Brunswick Bar since 1981. He was appointed QC in 2002.
Professor Kuttner's principal research and teaching interests are in labour, administrative and constitutional law and he has been engaged in labour law reform in both the provincial and federal sectors.
More recently he has developed a course in Jewish Law at the Faculty. Professor Kuttner has been active in several professional and scholarly societies, serving as a member of the executive of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association for six years and as its President in 1992-93. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice [2002 - ] and co-chairs its Administrative Tribunals Committee. He has been active in University Governance and served variously as a member of the Senate [1981-99] and the Board of Governors [1995-99; 2001-05].
Professor Kuttner is a Vice-Chair of the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board and many of his decisions as Vice-Chair of that and other labour relations tribunals in New Brunswick [1983- ], Ontario [1985-87], and the Federal sector [2002- ] are reported in national case reporting series as well as on the Quick Law data base. In addition, he is an active arbitrator, mediator and conciliator in the Federal and the Provincial Sectors.
More recently, he has developed an interest in human rights issues, particularly the tension between freedom of speech and minority groups rights. From 1988 to 1996 Professor Kuttner acted as counsel pro bono for the NB Human Rights Commission in the Moncton School Board case [Anti-Semitic teacher] before the New Brunswick Courts and the Supreme Court of Canada.
In 1997 he acted as counsel pro bono for the Canadian Association of Human Rights Agencies as Intervener in Re Vriend, the Alberta Gay Rights Case, and more recently in the same capacity for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in Ross v. Beutel [Anti-Semitism, libel, free speech] before the New Brunswick Court of Appeal [2001].
Professor Kuttner has been on the Executive of both the Atlantic Jewish Council and the Canadian Jewish Congress. He is an amateur musician and plays clarinet with the Fredericton Chamber Players.
