Suzanne Williams - Deputy and Legal Director, International Institute for Child Rights and Development

Email: swiicrd@uvic.ca

Suzanne Williams is a lawyer and IICRD's Deputy and Legal Director. She is a founding director of IICRD and has been instrumental in its development and growth since 2001.

Suzanne has provided specialized child rights expertise on several initiatives in partnership with organizations such as UNICEF, Save the Children, Plan International, and the Association of Universities and Colleges Canada. She has worked closely with lawyers, judges and government representatives to improve hearing children's views in family law decision-making and designed a course for lawyers for CLEBC that won an international award for outstanding achievement from ACLEA in 2008. She has made child rights presentations to numerous audiences including at the Third World Congress Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents (Brazil), and the Federation of Law Societies National Family Law Program. Suzanne currently leads the Child Protection Partnership, with Microsoft, UNICEF, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and partners from Thailand and Brazil that targets the sexual exploitation of children enabled by worldwide use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). She is also an advisory member to the 2010 edition of Plan International's Because I am a Girl publication, and is conducting research for the National Judicial Institute of Canada.

Suzanne has practiced law for over 15 years including at a national law firm where she represented private and public sector clients before tribunals and courts, and at Canada's Department of Justice providing advice on economic development, treaty implementation and other Aboriginal law matters. She is a member of the bar in Ontario and British Columbia, holds an LL.B., B.A. (Honours) and has extensive training in mediation and conflict resolution.