Welcoming remarks and the Canada-United States relationship--the common cause agenda.

AuthorUjczo, Daniel D.
PositionCANADA-UNITED STATES LAW INSTITUTE CONFERENCE on An Example of Cooperation and Common Cause: Enhancing Canada-United States Security and Prosperity Through the Great Lakes and North American Trade: Cleveland, Ohio April 2-4, 2009

Speaker--Daniel D. Ujczo

Canadian Speaker--Robert Noble

INTRODUCTION

MR. UJCZO: Good evening, I am Dan Ujczo, the Managing Director of the Canada-United States Law Institute. (1) Just to answer two preliminary questions, first, there were some flight difficulties for individuals flying in from the East Coast due to a storm, so a number of our colleagues are not here this evening. Second, and perhaps of greatest significance, is our legendary chairman, Dr. Henry King Jr., the innovator of this conference, is not able to join us this evening and will not be able to join any part of the conference proceedings this weekend. (2)

As many of you are aware, Henry, during the fall of this past year, while in the midst of the most active schedule that I ever saw him keep, encountered a health difficulty. You may imagine there is a little bit of frustration in the King household that he could not participate in the 25th conference that he created. (3) Nevertheless, Henry extends his warmest welcome to all of you. Also, he commented that if you have not paid your dues, (4) he wanted to remind you to do so, which I responded, "well, Henry, I mentioned that earlier to all of our members," and he said, in typical Henry format, "well, remind the new members that they have to pay their dues, too."

My charge this evening is to extend a warm welcome on behalf of the Canada-United States Law Institute and our two founding institutions, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, (5) represented this evening by our associate Dean Jon Entin, (6) and our United States Director Jon Groetzinger; (7) The University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law, (8) represented this evening by our Canadian Director Chi Carmody; (9) the members of our Executive Committee, represented this evening on the Canadian side by Selma Lussenburg, (10) Michael Robinson at Faskens (11) and Jim McIlroy of McIlroy and McIlroy, (12), as well as, on the United States side by Dick Cunningham of Steptoe & Johnson, (13) Rick Newcomb of DLA Piper Rudnick, LLP, United States, (14) and Don Cameron of Troutman Sanders, (15) and also, the members of our Advisory Board, who are strategically placed throughout the room this evening.

I extend a particularly warm welcome to the new members of our Advisory Board, including Bill Benos of Williams Mullen, Richmond, Virginia, who serves as the Honorary Consul of the Government of Canada in Richmond; (16) Jim Graham of Cleveland Cliffs; (17) Paul Meyer of the Watson Wyatt out of Arlington, Virginia; (18) Is Daniel Desjardins of Bombardier, Inc.; (19) and we are extremely privileged to have as a member of our Honorary Advisory Board, Judge Randolph Baxter of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio. (20) I extend our heartfelt appreciation to the many speakers, panelists, and session chairs that are joining us this evening. Likewise, I want to welcome the many public servants here representing the United States Department of Commerce, (21) Department of State, (22) the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, (23) Canada Agriculture, (24) Agri-Food Canada, (25) Industry Canada, (26) and the United States Department of Homeland Security (27) as well as the United States Coast Guard. (28)

The Canada-United States Law Institute possesses a very special relationship with the United States Coast Guard. (29) Our students are referred legal issues from the United States Coast Guard Judge Advocate General each spring semester. (30) Our students perform legal research and prepare written memorandum. Two thirds of the questions involve Canada-United States issues.

Finally, I would like to thank Consul General Robert Noble, the Consulate General in Detroit, (31) which has been a long-time supporter of the Canada-United States Law Institute and this Annual Conference. (32) As many of you know, I wear a few hats. I would never speak for Henry King, but I thought back today as we were celebrating the twenty-filth anniversary to a conversation he and I had back in 1999. (33) We were on a flight to Vancouver, and he was telling me about the magic formula for the Canada-United States Law Institute's Annual Conference. He said "Dan, this all started in 1984. (34) I was fairly new to the law school, (35) and I came from TRW with a network of professional and personal connections. (36) At the time President Reagan and the Prime Minister got along fairly well, (37) so I called Jon Fried, who was then a young officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, (38) and said 'what can we do at Case Western to help the Canada-United States relationship?'"

From that dialogue, it was decided that the conference needed to focus on the next big idea in the Canada-United States relationship, and Henry told me, "Do not ever forget that the conference is always 'forward looking.' That is the first element. You do not come here to hear about what is happening or what has happened in the Canada-United States relationship. It is what the next step is." Secondly, it was a place where federal, state, provincial and local government officials, could meet with their counterparts on the other side of the border and also interact with industry leaders, legal Practitioners, scholars, non-governmental organizations, and the media. (39) He made me promise that we would never have a conference that was a room full of lawyers, or worse, law professors. Finally, during that conversation and one that he has repeated several times after is the development of personal and professional relationships with other attendees. Henry has always been quite proud of the relationships that he has fostered through this conference, both professional and personal.

This conference not only has created professional networks but personal and long standing friendships. In fact, many of you have been here for twenty-four years. Michael Robinson is here for his 24th Annual Conference. We could not find anybody that was here for all twenty-five years, so Michael gets the longest consecutive attendance award. So with that, we will be doing a number of activities throughout the weekend to let Henry know that he is in both our minds and in our hearts, but without further ado, I turn it over to my colleague, United States Director Jon Groetzinger of Case Westem Reserve. (40)

MR. GROETZINGER: Thank you, Dan. I am very fortunate tonight to be able to introduce one of Canada's most distinguished diplomats and a great supporter of the Institute, Robert Noble. (41) As Consul General in Detroit, he represents Canada's interests in the environment, industry, trade, investment, passports, and immigration. (42)

He represents a large area, including Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. (43) He was previously Deputy General Consul in New York and Boston, (44) and had a distinguished career as the Ambassador of Canada to Gabon, Congo; and Sierra Leone, El Salvador. (45) He graduated in 1970 of the University of Toronto. (46) He is often in the news; in fact I was reading one of his interviews with Jack Lessenberry on Michigan radio the other day regarding the President's meeting with the Prime Minister. (47) Without further ado, allow me to introduce Robert Noble.

(1) See Canada-United States Law Institute, Executive Committee and Advisory Board, http://cusli.org/about/advisory_board.html (last visited Nov. 10, 2009).

(2) See CAN.-U.S. LAW INST., GATEWAY OR arm WORLD'S LONGEST UNDEFENDED CHECKPOINT? 15 (2008), http://cusli.org/conferences/annual/annual_2008/doe_apr_2008/ 2008Conf Program.pdf (providing biographical information about Henry King, Jr. and describing his extensive role in the development of the Canada-United States Law Institute Annual Conference).

(3) See Canada-United States Law Institute, supra note 1.

(4) See generally Canada-United States Law Institute, Membership Information, http://cusli.org/forms/membershipregistration.html (last visited Jan. 2, 2009).

(5) See generally Canada-United States Law Institute, http://cusli.org (last visited Sept. 26, 2009) (describing the founding of the Institute).

(6) See Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Faculty, http://www'law'ease'edu/faeulty/faeulty-detail'asp?adj=0&id=101 (last visited Sept 26, 2009).

(7) See Canada-United States Law Institute, supra note 1.

(8) See Canada-United States Law Institute, supra note 5.

(9) See Canada-United States Law Institute, supra note I.

(10) See id.

(11) See id.

(12) See id.

(13) See id.

(14) See id.

(15) See id.

(16) See Williams Mullen, Professionals, http://www.williamsmullen.com/bbenos (last vi sited Sept. 26, 2009) (noting Mr. Benos' position as Honorary Consul of Canada).

(17) See Canada-United States Law Institute, supra note 1.

(18) See id.

(19) See id.

(20) See id.

(21) See United States Department of Commerce, http://www.commerce.gov (last visited Sept. 26, 2009).

(22) See The United States Department of State, http://www.state.gov (last visited Sept. 26, 2009).

(23) See Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca (last visited Sept. 26, 2009).

(24) See Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, http://www.agr.gc.ca (last visited Sept. 26, 2009).

(25) See id.

(26) See Industry Canada, http://www.ic.gc.ca/ic_wp-pa.htm (last visited Sept. 26, 2009).

(27) See The United States Department of Homeland Security, http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm (last visited Sept. 26, 2009).

(28) See The United States Coast Guard, http://www.uscg.mil (last visited Sept. 26, 2009).

(29) See id.; see also Canada-United States Law Institute, Upcoming Conferences & Events, http://cusli.org/conferences/conferencesevents.html (last visited Sept. 27, 2009) (noting the Institute's past and future events, some of which are with the United States Coast Guard).

(30) See generally Canada-United States Law Institute, Curriculum and Exchange Program, http://eusli.org/curriculum/index.html#curriculum_case (last visited Oct. 9, 2009)...

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