The blind lawyer and longtime disability advocate became one of Canada’s leading lawyers for dogs (and their owners) – not surprising since he himself was a guide dog user, including during his time at Fauteux.
Green died earlier this year at the age of 74.
“We met in class and, as we both had disabilities, we soon became fast friends,” said Professor Ravi Malhotra, an expert in disability law.
“Terry was a man of deep convictions and strong opinions.”
Ravi Malhotra
— Full Professor
“He worked with people across the political spectrum which is increasingly uncommon. He had a special interest in veterans' issues. He was passionate and uncompromising. He also became a sole practitioner at a very early stage as a way of accommodating his disabilities. This path is both liberating and very challenging.”
In 1992, he received the Governor General of Canada 125th Anniversary of Confederation Commemorative Medal recognizing his contributions towards greater equality in Canada.
He was featured in the October 2008 issue of Lawyers Weekly Magazine in an article entitled "Champion of the Underdog," which described Green's vigorous representation of animals, and their owners, targeted by breed specific legislation.
He became blind as an adolescent when he developed Stickler syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that causes detached retinas.
In 1978, he graduated from St. Mary's University with Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in psychology and sociology and in 1992 earned a Masters degree in public administration from the University of Winnipeg.
Throughout his career he worked with advocacy groups and on his own to enhance and protect the rights of people with disabilities. He started in Nova Scotia with the Blind Rights Action Movement and the Canadian Council of the Blind, and a newspaper called Touchstone, uncovering and removing barriers. During a stint at Transport Canada he received an award of excellence for his work in equity in human resources planning.
He was involved in Canada's leading cross disability organization, now called the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (originally COPOH), for decades and goes back to its earliest days in Winnipeg in the mid 1970s.
According to the article, after trying out four careers, at the age of 45, Green decided to go to law school.
Green earned his law degree (LLB) in 1999 and was called to the Bar in 2001.
He recalled the barriers to trying to study at first. He "barely squeaked through" his first year, relying on volunteer readers and Quicklaw, a database system that contains case law and statutes, which he read with a computer and voice synthesizer. "But I would have to read an entire case from Quicklaw to find what I was looking for," he said in the article.
"In 1996 I talked with the Ottawa university faculty and came up with a solution: to get course materials in electronic format," said Green, "and with a little help from my classmates, we started the Online Library and Information System (OLLIS) for print-disabled people."
Green and his classmates worked out an agreement with publishers, who provided electronic text. In turn, the group (with a little help from IT specialists) converted the text to HTML and posted the books, chapter by chapter, to a private website.
"That project allowed me to read materials required for the courses and that's how I got through law school, with the help of my friends," he said.
After graduating from law school, Green recounted how he sent out hundreds of resumes to no avail. He had plenty of responses. Some people asked how he would find the courtroom ("I have my guide dog and I will ask someone in the lobby," he said); or how could he deal with last-minute documents ("I have an assistant and I use a computer with a voice synthesizer and, of course, I have all my notes), but he never got past the second interview.
"So I just started my own practice," he said.
But Green "got it." Due to his love of animals, becoming an animal rights lawyer was an obvious choice. "I've always been involved with dogs," Green told Lawyers Weekly. "My family bred German shepherds, and I met my wife at a dog show."
Green first represented persons with guide dogs.
Then in 2005 his clientele grew to include many owners of pit bulls - and numerous other dogs with a vague resemblance to the breed - when Bill 132 (the banned breed law) was introduced in Ontario. Green was already dealing with dog litigation cases such as animal control bylaw issues and he represented an individual in the first banned breeds case.
Green said animal control had seized two Staffordshire bull terriers that had allegedly bitten a youth while playing ball in a park. The dogs were initially slotted for euthanasia. Green was able to get one released, but the prosecution decided to go to trial.
"The key witness failed to appear, and the case was dismissed," said Green. "At that point, we were arguing whether or not the bite was provoked, not if the dogs were in the banned breed category and that is how my career in dog law started."
Green truly is a champion for the underdog - most of his clients in Ontario are on disability support.
"They usually get a puppy without knowing the parentage," he said, "and not many of them can afford to go through court proceedings."
Green said he had lost count of the number of dogs he has saved.
"We don't even have room left on our boardroom walls for any more dog pictures, from all over Ontario."
His firm even published “You, Your Dog, and the Law: Protecting Yourself, And Your Dog!” a guide for dog owners in Ottawa.
In 2013, he represented a military veteran in Manitoba who had been denied access to a local establishment because of the veteran's need to be accompanied by a service dog. Green's success in that case led to an amendment to the Manitoba Human Rights Code that specifically recognizes that "service animals" come within the Code's framework.
Green, who relied on Ottawa’s city buses to get around for him, his guide dog and his wife who was also blind, was also well known for helping the blind navigate OC Transpo.
In 2007, he obtained a decision from the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) that found an undue barrier arises for persons with a print disability when bus drivers fail to call out stops as required by OC Transpo’s own policy.
As a result, in 2010 OC Transpo installed a $12-million stop-calling system but the CTC subsequently hit the bus service with a $25,000 fine after enforcement officers discovered major stops were not being called out on three trips.
He also initiating a proceeding against the City of Ottawa concerning a lack of accommodation for the disabled during the 1994 municipal elections. As a result, that City thereafter provided templates.
Ottawa lawyer Anne Vespry met Green when he founded OLLIS and worked with him there, then got a surprise job working for the Law Society when they realized -- the day the Bar Admission Course started -- that they had no accessible materials for the Bar Exams. She converted their print material into a readable format for him.
“Terry became my articling principal, then business partner, and it was often fascinating to watch him surpass people's expectations and prejudices in the profession and in Court.”
Anne Vespry
— Ottawa Barrister & Solicitor
Ottawa lawyer Yavar Hameed said his classmate and longtime friend was one of the first lawyers to show him how barriers in the courtroom can be challenged.
“When I began my work in sole practice, I would routinely hold my breath and stutter my way through once I crossed the threshold of the bar to take a seat at the counsel table,” says Hameed.
“I marveled at the ease with which Terry seamlessly navigated provincial offences court when I would encounter him there along with his service dog. He was so purposeful and at ease in his advocacy.”
Yavar Hameed
— Lawyer
“As a racialized person who would often feel conspicuous in the court room, I admired Terry for his courage and his willingness to unapologetically bring his advocacy to where it mattered and in service of those at the margins. This lesson still inspires me to ask when confronting a legal challenge – what would Terry do?”