TORONTO — You can add the Law Society of Upper Canada’s first-ever Human Rights Award to the list of honours bestowed on Montreal MP Irwin Cotler.

Cotler, a professor of law and former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, will receive the inaugural award at a special evening on Feb. 12 at Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto.

The award will be granted every two years to recipients for their “outstanding contributions to the advancement of human rights and/or the promotion of the rule of law provincially, nationally or internationally,” states a Law Society news release.

“The Law Society is committed to the protection of human rights and the rule of law and we are extremely pleased to present our very first Human Rights Award to the Honourable Irwin Cotler,” said Law Society treasurer Janet Minor. “His long and illustrious career as an outspoken advocate for human rights – both at home and abroad – makes him a most fitting recipient.”

Cotler said he was "deeply moved and humbled" by the honour.

"I take this award to be in recognition of the cases and causes that I have had the privilege to be associated with; the political prisoners I have had the honour to represent and who have inspired us all; my colleagues in the academy, Parliament, at the bar, and in the trenches of human rights who have worked together with me in common cause; my teachers who have mentored me, and my students and interns who became my teachers," he said.

As federal minister of justice from 2003 to 2006, Cotler launched the National Justice Initiative Against Racism and Hate and initiated the first prosecution in Canada under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act for incitement to genocide in Rwanda.

Prior to entering politics, Cotler worked as an international human rights lawyer, representing such high-profile clients as Soviet dissidents Andrei Sakharov and Natan Sharansky, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, and Jacobo Timmerman in Latin America.

He is part of the international legal team representing  two Chinese political prisoners, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and Gao Zhisheng.

As justice minister, he secured the agreement of the justice ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority to participate in the first-ever joint justice forum, although it did not take place, as the Martin government fell in November 2005 just prior to the planned event.

A constitutional and comparative law expert, he has testified before parliamentary committees on human rights in Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Norway and Israel.

Cotler has received 10 honorary doctorate degrees and numerous awards. 

The ceremony bestowing the Law Society’s award will take place from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Osgoode Hall’s Donald Lamont Learning Centre, with a reception to follow. 

The public event is free though participants are asked to RSVP in advance. 

Cotler, 74, is known as a staunch defender of Israel. He has been MP for Mount Royal since 1999, but said last year that he will not be running in the next federal election, which is expected to be held next fall.