Andrew Petter

Andrew J. Petter (born 1953) is a former academic and provincial politician in British Columbia, Canada. He represented the electoral district of Saanich South in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1991 to 2001. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) caucus, he served in various cabinet posts under premiers Mike Harcourt, Glen Clark, Dan Miller and Ujjal Dosanjh, including as Attorney General of British Columbia from February to November 2000.

After politics, he worked as the dean of the University of Victoria Faculty of Law from 2002 to 2008, then served two terms as president and vice-chancellor of Simon Fraser University from 2010 to 2020. He served as board chair of provincial Crown agency Innovate BC from 2021 to 2024, and was elected to be a director of Coast Capital Savings Credit Union in April of 2024. He has written extensively about the role of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its effect on government powers and decision making.

Background and education
Andrew Petter was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1953, and grew up in the adjacent suburb of Oak Bay. His grandfather Ernest Petter was an English industrialist who unsuccessfully ran for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on three occasions before moving to the Vancouver Island town of Comox in 1938; he then lived for a while in Saanich before moving back to the UK in 1954.

Andrew's Jewish mother Elizabeth graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in the 1930s, then joined the Tanzgruppe Bodenwieser as a dancer. She was on tour in London when she met Ernest Petter's son Gordon; the couple married in Vienna and lived there until the Anschluss. After escaping Austria, the couple and Andrew's three elder siblings moved to Vancouver Island in 1946 to join Ernest.

In the 1960s the family moved to the interior city of Nelson, where Gordon Petter taught history at the now defunct Notre Dame University College. Andrew graduated from the city's L.V. Rogers Secondary School as valedictorian, then pursued undergraduate studies at Notre Dame. He also hosted an open-line show at radio station CKKC, interviewing figures such as then-premier Dave Barrett and former premier W.A.C. Bennett, before leaving the station to work as an executive assistant to Nelson-Creston member of the Legislative Assembly Lorne Nicolson.

He began studying political science at the University of Victoria (UVic) in 1976, then entered the school's law program in 1978, graduating with an LL.B. in 1981 and winning the Law Society of British Columbia gold medal for his top-of-class standing. He subsequently attended Cambridge University on a Commonwealth Scholarship, receiving an LL.M. in 1982 and graduating with first class honours.

Career
Petter briefly worked at the Saskatchewan Department of Justice, serving as the Constitutional Branch's adviser. He then taught at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto as an assistant professor between 1984 and 1986, before joining his alma mater, the University of Victoria Faculty of Law in 1986, becoming associate professor in 1988.

Politics
Recruited by BC NDP leader Mike Harcourt to enter politics, Petter was twice elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the provincial elections of 1991 and 1996, representing the riding of Saanich South. His constituency work included establishing the Galloping Goose Regional Trail for cyclists.

He was named Minister of Aboriginal Affairs in November 1991 by Premier Harcourt. In that role, he worked alongside Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Tom Siddon and Harcourt in the First Nations Task Force, which created and put into effect the Treaty Commission Act in British Columbia in May 1993. He then served as Minister of Forests from September 1993 to February 1996, with the BC Forest Practices Code being established during his term.

After Glen Clark took over as premier in February 1996, Petter was appointed Minister of Health, Minister Responsible for Seniors, and Minister Responsible for Intergovernmental Relations. That June he was named Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations, while holding on to the intergovernmental portfolio and dropping the health and seniors file. He then served as Minister of Advanced Education, Training and Technology and Minister of Intergovernmental Relations from February 1998 onwards, adding the role of Minister Responsible for Youth in August 1999 after Clark resigned and Dan Miller took over as premier and interim NDP leader.

Following Ujjal Dosanjh's election as new NDP leader, Petter was named Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Human Rights in February 2000. He declined to run again in the 2001 provincial election, and was dropped from the cabinet in November 2000, replaced in both roles by Graeme Bowbrick.

Higher education
Subsequent to his career in politics, he served as dean of the University of Victoria's faculty of law from 2001 until 2008 (the first year as acting dean), before returning to teaching. During his time as dean, the UVic Faculty established a new graduate law program, created a national aboriginal economic development chair and supported the first cohort of the Akitsiraq Law School in Nunavut.

He was named president and vice-chancellor of Simon Fraser University in January 2010, starting his term on September 1 that year. He was succeeded by Joy Johnson in 2020.

Innovate BC
From 2021 to 2024, Petter was served as chair of the board of directors of Innovate BC, a provincial Crown agency responsible for supporting innovation and growth in the technology sector in British Columbia. He took over the position from Alan Shaver. The appointment was announced by Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation.

Other distinctions

 * 2002: Honorary citizen award from the City of Victoria
 * 2003: Distinguished alumni award from the University of Victoria
 * 2018: Peter Lougheed Award for Leadership in Public Policy from the Public Policy Forum
 * 2020: Honorary doctorate (LLD) from Kwantlen Polytechnic University
 * 2022: Honorary doctorate (LLD) from Simon Fraser University
 * 2023: Honorary doctorate (LLD) from the University of Victoria

Selected publications

 * "Private Rights/Public Wrongs: The Liberal Lie of the Charter" in the University of Toronto Law Journal, 1995
 * "The Politics of the Charter", Supreme Court Law Review, 1986
 * "Rights in Conflict: The Dilemma of Charter Legitimacy", University of British Columbia Law Review, 1989
 * "Federalism and the Myth of the Federal Spending Power", Canadian Bar Review, 1989