Diana Juricevic Vandor appointed as incoming chair of B.C. Human Rights Tribunal

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      The quasi-judicial body that adjudicates human-rights complaints will have a new chair, effective August 1.

      Diana Juricevic Vandor has been with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal as a full-time member since 2011.

      According to her Linkedin profile, she was an international criminal defence lawyer in Cambodia in 2010 and 2011 and at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from 2007 to 2010.

      Juricevic Vandor also worked for a year as an adjunct professor and acting director of the University of Toronto's international human-rights program.

      In an interview in 2011 with Chatelaine writer Marina Jiminez, Juricevic Vandor said she was raised in rural Ontario as the daughter of Croatian immigrants.

      "It could have been me caught up in the war in Yugoslavia if my parents hadn’t moved to Canada," she told Chatelaine. "When I became a lawyer, it dawned on me that through international human-rights work, I could actually contribute to the process of peace."

      Earlier this year, Juricevic Vandor was among the inaugural winners of the Croation Women of Influence Awards, earning this honour in the "philanthropy" category. She was called to the B.C. bar in 2014.

      Juricevic Vandor will replace former veteran civil servant Bernd Walter, who's been doing double duty as chair of the B.C. Review Board while chairing the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

      "The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, through the Human Rights Code, has the responsibility to ensure that British Columbians have equal opportunity to enjoy a life without discrimination," Justice Minister Suzanne Anton said in a news release. "For the past six years, Bernd Walter has fulfilled the role of chair with tremendous dedication, leadership and with an exemplary commitment to procedural fairness. For this, our government thanks him."

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