Biography

Bruce A. MacFarlane, Q.C. was from 1993 to 2005 the Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney for the Province of Manitoba, in Canada. Prior to that, he was the Assistant Deputy Attorney General (Criminal Law) for Canada, and presently he is a Professional Affiliate, teaching criminal law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba. In 1988, he was appointed Queen's Counsel by the Government of Canada.   Called to the Manitoba Bar in 1974, he subsequently was called to the Saskatchewan Bar in 1979 and the Alberta Bar in 1987, and actively practiced before the criminal courts in all three provinces as well as in the Supreme Court of Canada.  Mr. MacFarlane published a legal text in 1979 entitled “Drug Offences in Canada”, which proceeded to a second edition in 1986 and a third edition in 1996. It is now updated annually along with co-authors Rob Frater and Chantal Proulx. This text is regularly cited by appellate courts in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Mr. MacFarlane is a regular contributor to the Criminal Law Quarterly, and has authored a number of articles on criminal law topics which have been published by the University of British Columbia, The University of Toronto, and the Canadian Bar Association.  They, also, have been cited and relied upon by Canadian appellate courts and, in one instance, an article authored by Mr. MacFarlane was quoted with approval by the High Court of Australia. Mr. MacFarlane presently resides in his native Winnipeg, Canada, practicing law and writing about it.