Calgary, 18 May 2016 – The Canadian Constitution Foundation today announced that Howard Anglin, former Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, will succeed Marni Soupcoff as the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s next Executive Director as of July 1, 2016.
The Canadian Constitution Foundation is a registered charity that defends the rights and freedoms of Canadians through litigation, communications, and education.
“I am honoured to have been chosen by the board as the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s next Executive Director. I am excited to be joining a group of people so enthusiastically dedicated to defending our constitutional freedoms,” said Howard. “Marni has been an inspired leader and I look forward to preserving the impressive advances the Canadian Constitution Foundation has made under her watch. I am particularly excited about building on the foundation’s successful litigation record in defence of constitutional freedoms and to continuing to expand the foundation’s education and communications work”
Marni is the current Executive Director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation. She previously served several terms as a director on the Canadian Constitution Foundation Board. She is also a former staff attorney at the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C. She started her contributions to the Canadian Constitution Foundation at its founding fourteen years ago, offering lessons learned from her litigation experience in D.C.
Under Marni’s vision and leadership, the foundation has grown into one of the highest-impact legal charities in Canada today. The Runnymede Society was formed under her guidance, when she and other CCF staff saw the need for a law-school-based membership group that would specialize in holding provocative and enlightening debates and educational symposia focused on the importance of freedom and the rule of law in Canadian society. After successful events at law schools across the country this spring, the Runnymede Society will be holding its first student leadership conference in Ontario this summer.
Marni continues to serve on the boards of the R Street Institute (Chair), Civitas (Vice President), and the Society for Quality Education.
Howard’s appointment is the culmination of a thorough succession process, which was overseen by the Board of Directors of the Canadian Constitution Foundation.
“Howard’s experience as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the Prime Minister – one of the most fast-paced and demanding jobs imaginable – combined with his successful legal career, makes him the right leader for the Canadian Constitution Foundation. I know Howard will lead the foundation to even greater prominence,” said Marni. “I have been proud and pleased to serve as the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s Executive Director for the past two years. I am really glad to have worked alongside so many passionate people during my time with the foundation and I would like to thank all our donors and supporters for the help and encouragement they’ve shown the group.”
Howard’s legal career includes work at two international law firms in New York and London and at a leading Washington, DC law firm. He also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was appointed Chief of Staff to the Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism in January 2011 and he joined the Office of the Prime Minister in 2013, serving first as Senior Advisor, Legal Affairs and Policy and then as Deputy Chief of Staff and Acting Chief of Staff.
Howard received his J.D. from New York University in 2002, where he was an editor of the Law Review and Co-President of the Federalist Society student chapter. Before law school, he received his B.A. (Hons.) and completed graduate coursework at McGill University. At law school, he worked as a research assistant for Professor Alan Dershowitz.
During his time in Ottawa, Howard was named by the Hill Times as one of the 25 “Most Powerful and Influential People in Politics and Government” in Canada for 2015 and by Embassy Magazine as one of the “Top 80 Influencing Canadian Foreign Policy” in 2013. The Hill Times also twice ranked Howard as the second most outstanding political staffer in Ottawa. He was called to the bar of New York in 2002 and the District of Columbia in 2006 and his call to the bar of Ontario (Law Society of Upper Canada) is scheduled for June 2016.
