Don Avison was President of the Student Council in his graduating year.
Avison attended Cariboo College ( T.R.U. ), completed his undergraduate degree at SFU and took a degree from U.B.C. Law in 1980.
After being called to the Bar in both British Columbia and the Yukon, Avison was recruited by the Attorney General of Canada where he specialized in complex criminal cases, extradition matters and litigation of cases relevant to the interpretation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He represented the Attorney General at all levels of Court and was counsel or co-counsel on many cases before the Supreme Court of Canada including the Charter-based challenge to the constitutional validity of Canada's mandatory minimum sentences for first and second degree murder. While with the Attorney General, he also served as Chief Crown Attorney for the Northwest Territories, as a negotiator on the Canada-U.S.A. Extradition Treaty and as the Director General of the federal Aboriginal Justice Initiative.
Avison returned to the Northwest Territories in 1994 to accept a position as the Deputy Minister of Justice where he worked on the division of the N.W.T. and the creation of Nunavut. He was also the lead negotiator for the Government of the Northwest Territories in the completion of the environmental, socio-economic and land use agreements necessary to facilitate the commencement of diamond mining in the N.W.T.
In 1997 Avison came home to British Columbia to serve as Deputy Minister of Education and, subsequently, as Deputy Minister of Health. He was then appointed as the first President of the University Presidents' Council of B.C. ( now the Research Universities Council of British Columbia ) where he played a key role in helping to dramatically increase opportunities for access to post-secondary education, in the growth of graduate programs and research-related activities and in the development and implementation of the expansion of medical education at U.B.C., at the University of Northern B.C. and at the University of Victoria.
Avison has served on numerous Boards of Directors including Life Sciences British Columbia, the B.C. Ferry Corporation, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and Providence Health Care. In 2009 he was also named as the Canadian representative to the International Advisory Board of Pfizer Worldwide.
Mr. Avison has been widely recognized for his contributions to public life. He was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, was named a Distinguished Alumni by T.R.U in 2006, received the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from B.C. Net in 2009 and was given the 2010 Leadership Award by Life Sciences B.C.
