O.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.M., LL.D.

Born in Calgary, Alberta on July 28, 1930, Ivan Head attended law school at the University of Alberta (LL.B. 1952) and was a Frank Knox Memorial Fellow at Harvard Law School (LL.M. 1960). He then became a Foreign Service Officer in the Department of External Affairs serving in Ottawa and Kuala Lumpur. In 1967 he became a Professor of Law at the University of Alberta and in that year became an associate counsel for constitutional matters to the Minister of Justice for Canada.  In 1970 he was appointed as a special advisor on foreign policy to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He became President of Canada's International Development Research Centre in 1979 and served in this position until 1991 after which he joined the Law Faculty at the University of British Columbia and founded the Liu Institute for Global Issues in 1999 and hosted its opening in September 2000.

Dr Head was an author of numerous scholarly articles and books including On a Hinge of History: The Mutual Vulnerability of South and North (1991); The Canadian Way: Shaping Canada's Foreign Policy 1968-1984 (1995); which he co-authored with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.  A recipient of numerous honorary degrees, Dr. Head was a respected Canadian on the global stage where he will always be remembered as a remarkable statesman who championed and worked tirelessly for global poverty issues.

Essay dedicated to the late Dr. Ivan Head: Journeys