Contributors

The L. R. Wilson Chair in Information Technologies and E-Commerce Law was created thanks to an exceptional donation of $775,000 in 2002 from Lynton Ronald “Red” Wilson, OC, during the Université de Montréal’s funding campaign “Un monde de projets.”

Other generous benefactors have rallied to the cause. The McCarthy Tétrault LLP law firm and the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) have each contributed by $250,000 to create the Chair. The Osler, Hoskin et Harcourt LLP law firm also contributed to the Chair fund by $150,000. Bell Canada, Louis Lagassé and André Charron have each donated $100,000.

The contributions are capitalized and managed under the Université de Montréal’s endowment fund. Each year, the University pays over to the Chair revenues generated by the Chair’s dotation.

 

The L. R. Wilson Chair in Information Technologies and E-Commerce Law was inaugurated on February 5, 2003, and Prof. Pierre Trudel was then named as the first Chairholder. In addition to Lynton R. Wilson, OC, and the Chairholder, the ceremony was otherwise attended by Robert Lacroix, Rector of the Université de Montreal, Jacques Frémont, Dean of the Faculty of Law, David Masse, member of the Chair campaign team, Ejan Mackaay, Director of the Centre de recherche en droit public (CRDP).

 

About Lynton R. Wilson, OC

Lynton Ronald “Red” Wilson, OC, is the former Chairman of the Board and CEO of BCE, and former Chairman of the Board of Nortel Networks, two of the biggest players in the telecommunication field. He is also Chairman of the Board of CAE Inc. and serves on the boards of a number of other companies. In 1997, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada, and he has received honorary doctorates from many Canadian universities, including one from the Université de Montréal, in 1995.

This visionary, who lived in Montreal for eight years, has seen the importance of studying the exponential growth of the information technologies that are transforming our society, and the resulting challenges, particularly with respect to the creation of a new form of law able to regulate interactions in the Internet’s open networks. At the inauguration, he said: “It is a great honour for me to be intimately associated with your efforts by contributing to the creation and ongoing funding of the new Chair in Information Technology and E-Commerce Law.”

 

Media coverage :

  • « Lancement de la Chaire L.R. Wilson sur le droit des technologies de l’information et du commerce électronique », Forum, February 21, 2003.
  • « Université de Montréal Chair to Study How Technology Influences Canadian Legislation » , Brian Dunn, Computing Canada , February 28, 2003, available at  here
  • Speech by M. Lynton R. Wilson during the CRDP's 40th anniversary, on February 26, 2002

This content has been updated on 16 June 2015 at 0 h 32 min.