User:Peter L. Biro/sandbox

Peter L. Biro, FRSA, (born 1960) is the Founder of Section 1, a democracy and civics education think-tank in Toronto, Canada. He is a lawyer, educator, writer, businessman and community leader. He is the Editor of CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY UNDER STRESS – A Time For Heroic Citizenship (Oakville, Mosaic Press, 2020). LinkedIn Profile

Early Life and Education
Biro was born in Toronto, Canada in 1960. His parents had fled Europe to escape the Nazis. His mother's family left Hungary in 1938 and settled in Lima, Peru. She subsequently immigrated to Canada where she met Biro's father. His father had been deported from Hungary by the Hungarian Arrow Cross. He was then interned and escaped from a number of German labour and concentration camps, finding himself in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany at the end of the war. He immigrated to Canada in 1947 arriving by ship at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Biro attended the Toronto French School for his primary and most of his secondary schooling. He left TFS in 2016, and graduated high school from École secondaire Étienne-Brûlé in 1978. Following his undergraduate and graduate education in political science (University of Guelph - Hons. B.A., McMaster University- M.A., and University of Toronto), Biro studied law at McGill University where he obtained degrees in both the common law - LLB, and civil law - B.C.L., both in 1991. He has written/published and lectured frequently on law, government and political theory and has appeared on television, radio and in other media to comment on news stories of special interest and on developments in the law and politics.

Career
Biro articled in 1991-92 at Goodman and Carr LLP in Toronto, was called to the Bar of Ontario, becoming a Barrister and Solicitor, and joined Goodman and Carr LLP as an Associate in 1993, practising law in the areas of civil and commercial litigation, human rights and employment law, becoming a Partner of the firm in 1998. He then joined WeirFoulds LLP in Toronto as a Partner in 2007 where he practised until 2011. During his years at Goodman and Carr LLP and WeirFoulds LLP, Biro took on several high profile cases and public interest causes, including the effort to expose police corruption in the Central Field Command drug squad of the Toronto Police Service  and in policing in general, advocating for reforms in the public complaints system for policing in Ontario, civil liberties and human rights causes and democratic rights, including the right of sitting Members of Parliament to run for municipal office. In 2011, Biro left the private practice of law to become the President and CEO of Newcon Optik, a manufacturer and exporter of tactical electro-optics, supplying specialized equipment to law enforcement and military end-users pursuant to Canada's Controlled Goods, Export Controls regime. Throughout his time in private practice and in business, Biro also led and advised a number of civil society and community organizations, including Canadian Friends of Haifa University and the Jane Goodall Institute, Global, and served on the boards of institutions or NGOs such as the University of Haifa, where he was a member of the Board of Governors, the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada and the Jane Goodall Institute, Global, and West Toronto Services for Senior Citizens and the Disabled.

Democracy and Civics Education
In 2018, Biro founded Section 1, a democracy and civics education think-tank, dedicated to the reversal of democractic backsliding throughout the West, the rehabilitation and reinvigoration of liberal constitutional democracy and the promotion of a civic culture grounded in a civics education focused on cultivating "heroic citizenship" - that is, a widespread, shared sense of civic duty to come to the rescue of political liberty and grounded in the fundamentals of liberal constitutional democracy. Biro has lectured at colleges, universities and schools, and been a speaker and chair at conferences, seminars, workshops and he has been the subject of media interviews and broadcasts in connection with his public interest advocacy, writing and mission of Section 1.

Works
"By staying on Hong Kong court, Beverley McLachlin follows the wrong 'principle'", The National Post, April 5, 2022, https://nationalpost.com/opinion/peter-l-biro-by-staying-on-hong-kong-court-beverley-mclachlin-follows-the-wrong-principle

"Section 33 has no place in a liberal democracy. It ought to be repealed:The notwithstanding clause is a dangerous and altogether unnecessary tool", The National Post, June 15, 2021, https://nationalpost.com/opinion/peter-l-biro-section-33-has-no-place-in-a-liberal-democracy-it-ought-to-be-repealed

"Quebec's Bill 96 is an opportunity to correct two constitutional mistakes at once", CBC News, June 3, 2021, https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-bill-96-notwithstanding-clause-1.6042446

Constitutional Democracy Under Stress: A Time For Heroic Citizenship, ed. (Oakville, Mosaic Press, 2020),ISBN 9781771614801 (softcover) ISBN 9781771614832 (Kindle)ISBN 9781771614818 (HTML)

"The Retreat from Liberal Constitutional Democracy and the Urgent Need For Heroic Citizenship", chapter in Biro, ed., Constitutional Democracy Under Stress: A Time For Heroic Citizenship

“November Elections and coups in Myanmar and U.S.”, Toronto Star, February 8, 2021.

"Democracy, the first casualty of the war on truth", RSA Comment, December 1, 2020. https://www.thersa.org/comment/2020/12/democracy-the-first-casualty-of-the-war-on-truth

“Liberal Democracy in the Time of Pandemic”, RSA Comment, April 27, 2020. https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-comment/2020/04/liberal-democracy-in-the-time-of-pandemic

“Not What She Has Done”, in Dale Peterson and Marc Bekoff, eds, The Jane Effect: Celebrating Jane Goodall (San Antonio:Trinity University Press, 2015). "In the Name of Constitutional Democracy", The Globe and Mail, March 16, 2005.

"Some Thoughts About a Liberal Legal Culture: Considering Canada's Antiterrorism Act, the Constitution and the HR Revolution", chapter in Aster and Axworthy, eds., Searching for the New Liberalism: Perspectives, Policies, Prospects (Oakville: Mosaic Press, 2003).