For David Thomas, his new career choice was all about serving his country and doing his part to make it a better place.
On Sept. 2, the West Vancouver resident will begin his appointment as the new chair of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in Ottawa.
The Department of Justice announced Thomas' appointment in late June.
"There were a number of people that did apply for the position," said Thomas. "And I was one of I think five finalists who were interviewed for the job."
Thomas has been a member of the tribunal since early 2013, working on a part-time basis doing hearings, mediations and managing cases.
In his new role, "I'll still be doing the same kind of work but I'll also be responsible for the entire agency," he said. "I'll be the person who distributes the caseloads to the other members and the person that's basically the face of the organization."
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal was created in 1977. It's a federal body similar to a court of law but only hears cases relating to discrimination. It must remain impartial and apply the principles of the Canadian Human Rights Act to each case. The tribunal is the only body that can legally decide whether a person or organization has engaged in discrimination and only accepts cases that are referred by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
The seven-year appointment will hold some professional challenges for Thomas in the coming year, as the government restructures their federal tribunals.
Right now there are 11 different tribunals in Ottawa, each with their own administrative support. But soon, the government plans to consolidate support staff for those organizations.
Thomas also hopes to accomplish what may be the tribunal's biggest challenge in the coming years: dealing with cases that had previously been exempt from the Canadian Human Rights Act.
"One of the biggest changes that has happened in last couple of years is the repeal of section 67 of the Act, which exempted First Nations people and the Indian Act from the applicability of the Human Rights Act," he said. "So the grounds of discrimination didn't apply to those groups."
Thomas said with the repeal of that section, the tribunal will be taking on the first case, which is "a massive, massive case" that has been brought up on behalf of a First Nations group.
"It's taking three members on the panel and it's taking a very high proportionate amount of the resources of the tribunal to manage," he said. "We're under the impression that we're going to have quite a few more cases like this coming down the pike towards the tribunal and the big challenge for me and for the others will be how do we manage this."
Thomas is no stranger to heading up organizations.
He has served as director and executive member of the Sovereign Order of St. John, director of the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and is current director of the Canada-Korea Business Association. He also has his own law firm, David L. Thomas Law Corp. in North Vancouver and is a partner at the Dundarave Mortgage Investment Corp. His background, he said, will hopefully help him bring a fresh outlook and viewpoint to management.
"One of the things that makes me a little bit different is that I'm a complete private-sector individual, apart from my part-time employment over the last year, I've never worked for the government before," said Thomas. "I've been in a private law practice for 25 years and I've also started up and operated a number of small businesses along the way as well. So I have what I like to think of as a very pragmatic private-sector viewpoint, which I think has not always had its voice heard at the higher levels in government in Ottawa."
Thomas has an extensive background as an active member of the community. He was chair of the West Vancouver Parks and Recreation Commission, a member of the West Vancouver standing committee for recreation facilities and leader of Scouts Canada, to name a few.
Thomas said he felt at one point in his life he would like to do something for his country.
"I really view this as an opportunity to fulfill something that I have always wanted to do which is to give something for my country and do my little bit to make it a better place," he said. "And I'm currently 52 years old so when's a good time if not now?"
