Canadian Civil Liberties Association : The Canadian Civil Liberties Association was founded in 1964 by a group of citizens, led by former Ontario judge and lieutenant governor J. Keiller MacKay, who were concerned about the Ontario government's proposal to increase police powers. Since then the CCLA has fought vigourously against the encroachment of civil liberties and human rights by all levels of government. The CCLA has spearheaded many civil libertarian campaigns. These have included speaking out against the introduction of the War Measures Act during the Quebec crisis of 1970, leading the fight against religious instruction in the public schools, pushing for independent investigation of complaints against police, challenging the scope of police surveillance powers including the RCMP "dirty tricks" and other wrongdoings, documenting abuses of civil liberties by public welfare administrators in many Canadian cities, protesting state censorship, taking a stand against the death penalty and combatting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. The CCLA organizes court interventions, pressures governments, presents briefs to legislative committees, addresses rallies and conducts education programs on civil liberties to students.
The CCLA is a non-profit organization which exists on the financial support of concerned citizens. It has neither received nor requested government funding. It operates with a volunteer board of directors composed of prominent Canadians in the field of politics, law, journalism and social activism. Its general counsel between 1968 and 2009 was A. Alan Borovoy who previously worked for the Ontario Human Rights Committee of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), a partnership between the CLC and the Jewish Labour Committee of Canada. Mr. Borovoy is the author of several articles and books including When Freedoms Collide: The Case for Our Civil Liberties, 1988. He received the Order of Canada in 1982. In 2009, the position of General Counsel was taken over by Sukanya Pillay.