Workplace Centre for Spiritual and Ethical Development

Ethics for Breakfast presents

Wednesday, Sept 14, 2011
7:15 - 8:30 am

Ethics and
the Military:
Values & Responsibilities
in Times of War

with Col. R. J. Lesperance,
LL.B, Deputy Judge Advocate General, Canadian Armed Forces Reserves

Do military personnel have special ethical responsibilities as professionals, especially during armed conflicts and war?

Many people perform ethically at their jobs, but how many would be willing to put themselves last, perhaps risk their life, for the sake of an employer's mission?
Military personnel do the latter, every day, while in combat. That's part of what distinguishes the military ethos -- fundamental values, and unique beliefs & expectations that revolve around military service -- from professional codes of ethics in other fields.

Join us to hear and talk with Col. Bob Lesperance, as he outlines the four key values and ethical duties of military personnel: service to Canada before oneself (within the primacy of operations, the professional code is "mission, own troops, self"); loyalty (remaining subservient to the state); integrity (leaders and commanders must not abuse the power they wield over subordinates); and courage (besides enduring physical hardship and danger, having the will and resolve to do what is ethically right and not to quit).

            click here to RSVP   or  call: 604-685-6560

DATE:            Wednesday, Sept 14th -- 7:15-8:30 am

LOCATION:      BC HYDRO Building
                      333 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver
                      2nd Floor, Auditorium
                      Check-in at Security Desk - Main floor lobby

COST:          Members - $7.00     Non-Members - $10.00
                 - muffins, tea and coffee included
                     - RSVP requested (if possible)

                 ___________________________________


About Our Speaker:

Bob Lesperance, LL.B and B.C.L., is a Colonel and Reserve legal officer in the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Armed Forces, and a partner in a private law firm where he works in environmental and commercial litigation.

Bob began his service with Canada’s military forces in 1969. In June 2009, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and holds the position of Deputy Judge Advocate General, Reserves. In 2008/2009, he was briefly deployed to Afghanistan as a senior legal adviser to the Canadian Forces Task Force Commander in Kandahar. A former Adjunct Professor at the UBC Law Faculty (where he taught a course in the law of armed conflict), Bob now teaches leadership and ethics for the Canadian Forces College, Joint Command Staff Program through the Royal Military College.

Bilingual and raised in Quebec, Bob completed McGill University’s National Law Program in 1983 and was awarded his LL.B. and B.C.L. degrees. Today, he is a partner in the law firm Lesperance Mendes, where his preferred areas of practice are environmental and commercial litigation. Bob has successfully represented clients in complex commercial and civil litigation in B.C.’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and in the Federal Court of Canada. Currently, he co-chairs the B.C. branch of the Canadian Bar Association’s environmental law section and is active in organizing section meetings on contaminated sites issues.

In addition, Bob has served as President of the board of directors of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (1995-2001) and as President of the Board of the McGill Society (1992-1994).


             click here to RSVP   or  call: 604-685-6560