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PRESIDENT

Janet Keeping

Janet Keeping has held the position of President of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership since April 1, 2006.

Janet holds a B.S.A.D. (Bachelor of Science in Art and Design) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earned during the years when she thought she wanted to become an architect, and an M.A. (Philosophy) and an LL.B. from the University of Calgary. She articled with the law firm of Bennett, Jones and was called to the Bar of Alberta in 1982.

First during law school and then in the years following, Janet worked closely with Sheldon Chumir on establishing and running the Calgary Civil Liberties Association and on founding, in 1982, the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre, of which Janet was the first Executive Director. She also worked with Sheldon on running the Save Public Education slate of candidates for the 1983 Calgary Public School Board election and remained a friend of Sheldon's through the rest of his life.

During those years, Janet often spoke publicly and published several pieces on a variety of human rights and civil liberties issues.

Prior to accepting the position of President of the Foundation, Janet was Director of Russia Programs for, and a Research Associate with, the Canadian Institute of Resources Law (CIRL) at the University of Calgary. Her research, writing and public speaking during this period focused on resources law and policy issues, which included considerable work on the intersection of resources law with the law intended to protect aboriginal interests. It also included work on more philosophical themes, such as trust and aboriginal land claims settlements. She never left her other human rights and civil liberties concerns far behind, however, as while working at CIRL she taught "Gender Equality and the Law" for the Faculty of Culture and Communication at the University of Calgary several times and participated in other campus events devoted to such themes as civil disobedience. One of the last projects, which Janet initiated at CIRL, was devoted to examining the overlap between human rights law and the law pursuant to which oil and gas in the province of Alberta is developed.

In 1992 Janet started the work which would lead to her position as Director of Russia Programs for CIRL. This saw her traveling to Russia up to 5 times per year between 1994 and 2005. Janet ran a number of projects, which were funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, the object of which was to expose Russians to more market-oriented and democratic processes for regulating their oil and gas sector. A crucial part of all these programs was the effort to instill respect for the rule of law, a subject that Janet has now written or spoken publicly on many times.

Alongside her duties as President of the Foundation, Janet continues to work on Russian related projects, the most important of which now is the effort, together with Russian and Canadian colleagues, to design and implement a master's degree program in natural resources law for Russian universities.

Janet's work with Russian universities has led to formal recognition of her contribution from Tomsk State University and an honourary professorship at Tyumen State University, both of which are in western Siberia. She is also closely involved in resources law and management training at Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Janet decided to study Russian upon returning from her first trip there in 1992. She now speaks, reads and writes Russian. Although she wishes her fluency were greater, she is nonetheless very proud of this accomplishment.

Janet was born in Montreal, and as a child or young person lived in Quebec City; Brampton, Ontario; and Lexington, Massachusetts. She has lived in Calgary since 1973. Janet and her husband, Philip Elder, have two daughters and a son.

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