The Honourable Mr. Justice Hugh L. Fraser
The Honourable Mr. Justice Hugh L. Fraser was elected as Chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors on December 17, 2022. He is a retired Judge, having spent three decades as a Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa and Toronto, Canada. During his time as a fulltime Judge he served as Local Administrative Justice in Ottawa, as well as a three year term as Regional Senior Justice for the East Region of Ontario. Since his retirement from full-time Judicial service he has been employed as an Arbitrator, Mediator, and Workplace Investigator. Justice Fraser received his B.A. (Hons.) from Queen’s University in 1974 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa Law School in 1977.
Prior to his appointment to the bench, Justice Fraser was employed as a lawyer in private practice. He also served on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for seven years and authored several leading decisions on discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Justice Fraser is an Olympian, having competed for Canada at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and is recognized as an international expert in sports law. He has been on the Court of Arbitration for Sport for 28 years and served on the the first ad hoc Court at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, in 1996. He has been a member of several other ADR panels in North America and Europe including, the PGA/LPGA Anti-Doping Panel, the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), the Swiss Arbitration Association, and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution.
Justice Fraser has resolved disputes throughout Canada and the U.S. as well as in Australia, Brazil, Grenada, Malaysia and Switzerland.
Justice Fraser currently serves as an independent Arbitrator with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, (USOPC), the USOPC Athletes’ Advisory Council, and the United States Anti-Doping Agency. He is also a Commissioner with Athletics Canada and is a panel member with JAMS (Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services) one of the largest ADR providers in the world. Justice Fraser is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. In 2020, he was named a co-recipient of the Canadian Bar Association’s President’s Award, given for significant contribution to the legal profession in Canada.
On December 29, 2021, Justice Fraser was appointed as Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the highest civilian honours in the country.