Background

Margot Blight is a partner practising in the Toronto office. Margot conducts her practice in the French and English languages. She was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1989, having graduated from Lakehead University (B.A. First Class Standing, 1984) and the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto (LL.B., 1987). In 2001, Margot was certified by the Law Society as a Specialist in Labour Law.

Areas of Practice

Margot practises in a variety of administrative law disciplines, notably in the areas of education law, human rights law, constitutional law and labour law.

Rankings and ReCognitions

• Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada 2012 (Labour and Employment Law)

Professional Experience

Professional experience of note includes:

• Advising and representing private and public sector employers in all aspects of labour and employment law, before courts and administrative tribunals.
• Adjudication of professional discipline matters involving lawyers and Justices of the Peace.
• Independent legal advice to adjudicators and boards of adjudication.
• Advising Ontario educational institutions, including school boards, universities and independent schools with respect to their management and governance.
• Advising and representing Ontario school boards and trustees' associations in negotiations with the province, in the areas of labour relations and capital funding.
• Advising and representing Ontario school boards with respect to the denominational rights of Roman Catholics.
• Advising and representing Ontario school boards and trustees' associations in matters relating to the minority language education rights of francophones – most recently before the Supreme Court of Canada in Casimir v. Quebec.
• Advising and representing Ontario school boards in all types of labour and employment law matters, and in human rights matters involving students and employees.
• Advising private and public sector institutions in the areas of policy development and administration.
• Advising and representing complainants, Commissions and respondents in human rights disputes – complaints of discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, religion and handicap as well as sexual harassment and reprisals – in the courts and before administrative tribunals.
• Advising and acting in other constitutional challenges to legislation, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , most recently, representing the Canadian Human Rights Commission in a constitutional challenge to section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act (spreading hate on the internet).
• Representing the provincial government and advising the provincial government on legislative reform.

Professional Activities and Memberships

• Member, Justices of the Peace Review Council
• Past Chair, Labour Law Specialty Committee of the Law Society of Upper Canada
• Director, The Laskin Moot Court Competition
• Member, Canadian Olympic Committee and its Governance and Ethics Committee
• Member, Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario
• Member, Advocates Society
• Member, Ontario Bar Association
• Member (Non-Bencher Adjudicator), Law Society of Upper Canada Hearings Panel