Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Alison Redford was named Minister of Justice and Attorney General by Premier Stelmach on March 13, 2008, after being elected MLA for the constituency of Calgary-Elbow on March 3, 2008. On September 16, 2009, Ms. Redford was added to the roster of Deputy Government House Leaders, and on October 28, 2009, she was appointed to the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing.

Ms. Redford, a human rights lawyer, graduated from the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan in 1988. She went on to serve as senior policy advisor to the Secretary of State for External Affairs and in the Office of the Prime Minister from 1988 to 1990.

Throughout the 1990s Ms. Redford worked as a technical advisor on constitutional and legal reform issues in various parts of Africa for the European Union, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Canadian government and the government of Australia. Ms. Redford´s work in Africa focused on human rights litigation, developing education programs and policy reform with respect to gender issues.

Ms. Redford served as senior policy advisor to the Right Honorable Joe Clark and organized a series of national foreign policy consultations facilitating public input on the government of Canada´s white papers on foreign affairs and defence. In Canadian Parliament, Ms. Redford was also the principal legislative advisor to the Secretary of State for External Affairs.

One of Ms. Redford´s most notable appointments was by the Secretary General of the United Nations as one of four international election commissioners to administer Afghanistan´s first parliamentary elections, held in September 2005. She also served as an advisor to the Privy Council Office on Canada´s future involvement in Afghanistan subsequent to the elections. Her work has included assignments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Namibia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Philippines. Before her most current post Ms. Redford managed a judicial training and legal reform project for the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Peoples Court in Vietnam.

Ms. Redford is an active member of many community boards in her hometown of Calgary. She has been involved with Lycée Louis Pasteur Society, the Heritage Park Foundation and the Calgary Winter Club. She previously served on the board of the Lakeview Community Association and the Alberta Human Rights Education Advisory Board.

Ms. Redford was born and raised in Calgary, where she currently lives with her husband and daughter.

November 3, 2009