Please vote now for Marcel Mongeon, VA3DD and Tim Ellam, VE6SH
RAC President Glenn MacDonell, VE3XRA:
“On behalf of Radio Amateurs of Canada, I am pleased to announce that two longtime RAC members and dedicated volunteers, Marcel Mongeon, VA3DDD, and Tim Ellam, VE6SH, have been nominated for the ‘Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers’ in Canadian Lawyer magazine’s annual contest.
Marcel Mongeon, VA3DDD, has served as RAC’s Legal Counsel for over 10 years and Tim Ellam, VE6SH, served in Executive positions for the Canadian Radio Relay League and Radio Amateurs of Canada from 1990 to 1999 including as RAC’s Legal Counsel before volunteering with the International Amateur Radio Union in 2001 and becoming its President in 2009.
Both are successful lawyers and they have been nominated by their peers in different categories of an election to recognize the Top 25 most influential and hardest working members of their profession.
Marcel has indicated that his technical skills, in part generated from being an Advanced certificate holder and having helped RAC conduct its first annual conference through Zoom, have also helped Ontario’s small claims court judges get ready for hearings using Zoom.
An online election will determine who is recognized and I encourage Canadian Radio Amateurs to vote for Marcel, VA3DDD – who is nominated in the Changemakers category – and Tim, VE6SH – who is nominated in the Government/Non-profits/Associations category.”
Marcel D. Mongeon
Ross Mongeon Covello & Co
Nominated in the Changemaker category:
“Marcel has without hesitation devoted a huge amount of time and energies to dealing with the many hurdles created for the justice system in Ontario by the pandemic. He has been unswerving in his willingness to reach out constantly to the profession and the bench to assist with technological and practice issues that have arisen with remote hearings and procedures. He has demonstrated over the past 18 months a passion for helping the profession, the parties before the courts and the bench in dealing with online issues and developing effective and permanent functional changes to help with this fundamental change that we have all been immersed in.
Over the past 18 months, Marcel has freely given his time and energy working with the bench, the bar, and self-represented members of the public to be a catalyst for positive change during the transition of the Ontario justice system to an online environment. Using a combination of superb communication skills and the depth of his technological experience in conducting virtual online proceedings, Marcel has patiently mentored many a novice to participate in virtual litigation proceedings confidently. Marcel’s impact by encouraging, training and supporting his colleagues has helped make these changes permanent. During my experience working with Marcel, he has shown the technical, organizational and interpersonal skills necessary for a truly exceptional influential leader.
Over the last year. Marcel has been a catalyst for positive change with his passion for getting lawyers and the justice system online and making these changes permanent. He has spent much of the last year training those in the legal field on being online and digitizing their practices, like the Zoom courses and all the non-paid training he continues to do. He has worked passionately to pass on his technical and practical knowledge to lawyers, paralegals and others in or associated with the legal profession who need these tools to stay with and prosper in these new times. In his capacity as a Small Claims Court judge, educator and IP lawyer, Marcel has been a catalyst for positive change with his passion for getting lawyers and the justice system online and making these changes permanent.
Marcel is, by nature, an innovative changemaker. When the Small Claims Court was suspended on March 16, 2020, Marcel worked tirelessly to educate Deputy Judges of the Small Claims Court in Zoom and other electronic methods of exchanging documents and holding hearings. This allowed Ontario’s Deputy Judges to start holding Zoom hearings for all matters, including contested hearings, within six months of the suspension. The Small Claims Court is the branch of the Superior Court that hears almost half of the civil cases in Ontario. It is the only court most litigants will see. Bringing Ontario’s Deputy Judges into the modern era in less than six months is a significant contribution to the administration of justice in Ontario.”
Timothy St. John Ellam QC
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Nominated in the Government/
Non-profits/Associations category:
Timothy St. John Ellam, QC, FCIArb is a partner in McCarthy Tétrault’s litigation and arbitration practices in Calgary and London and is co-chair of the Firm’s international arbitration practice group.
Tim principally practices in the area of international arbitration in both Canada and in London, UK with an emphasis on energy and intellectual property matters.
He has acted on a number of telecommunication matters and appeared for Radio Amateurs before the Federal Court of Canada and several Development Appeal Boards. He is also the co-author of “Dispute Resolution in the Telecommunications Sector”, published by the International Telecommunications Union and the World Bank, and a contributing author to “Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur”.
Tim has held a Canadian Advanced Amateur certificate since 1977 (VE6SH) and a British Amateur licence since 1978 (G4HUA). From 1990 to 1999, he served in Executive positions for the Canadian Radio Relay League and Radio Amateurs of Canada and also as RAC’s Legal Counsel. He became actively involved in the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) as an expert on legal matters. In 2001, he was elected to the IARU Region 2 Executive committee and was elected as Vice-President in 2004. He has been serving as IARU President since 2009.
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU):
- represents the interests of the Amateur Radio Service worldwide to relevant international organizations seeking to protect and enhance its spectrum privileges
- seeks to work collaboratively with organizations which influence spectrum allocations and with others where the objectives of Amateur Radio align
- is recognized by the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by virtue of its consultative status with other United Nations bodies, i.e., the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU recognizes the IARU as an international organization (CV/Art.19, No. 231).
- has worked with the ITU for nearly a century and is a Sector Member of the Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), playing a full part in the work of ITU-R as it affects Amateur Radio spectrum, and also of the Development Sector (ITU-D), relating to developing countries and emergency communication.
In 1947, the IARU was one of the first international organizations to enter into a formal agreement with the United Nations Organization for support and cooperation. Today the IARU is in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Tim was a member of the UN/ITU Smart Sustainable Development Model (SSDM) which supports the UN sustainable development goals as they relate to emergency communication. SSDM seeks to ensure that information and communication technologies are used for both development and for disaster management with the aim of improving the lives of millions of people across the globe.
Tim Ellam chaired the UN/ITU report for the use of volunteers in emergency communication. https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Initiatives/SSDM/Pages/default.aspx
Additional information
“Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers” Contest
- Human Rights, Advocacy and Criminal
- Business
- In-House Counsel: including quasi-government, non-profit and the private sector.
- Changemakers: lawyers in any area or type of practice who have been leaders, innovators or catalysts for positive change in any area of the profession such as diversity, law firm management, education, etc.
- Government/non-profits/associations including public inquiries, officers of Parliament and academic institutions
The list of nominees was created by an internal editorial panel as well as suggestions from readers and past honorees.
“The Top 25 Most Influential is not a lifetime achievement award but recognition of lawyers who have played a significant role in the legal profession and Canadian and international society in the last 18 months. Canadian Lawyer is defining ‘influential’ as not just about bright stars, big deals or the number of media mentions – although those may play a part. It’s about people who have power and influence the laws, justice system and legal profession in Canada and abroad today.”