Director’s Award

My Director’s Award was not presented on the red carpet by the Academy, but at a general meeting of about 100 employees of the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto in 1989 by the director Doug Lucas. To me, it meant more than an Oscar. I was quite surprised when Doug said my name when he awarded me that year’s award. I didn’t even have an acceptance speech ready.

The Director’s Award was a recognition from one’s peers and leader – not a Hollywood spectacle, but something far more meaningful. It represented years of dedication, late nights, and a commitment to forensic science that started modestly and grew into a lifelong passion.

I started at the Centre of Forensic Sciences on February 16th, 1976, as a junior Breathalyzer repair technician. But I soon caught fire and went back to the nearby University of Toronto at lunch and finished my 4-year B.Sc. degree, which was the requirement for scientists at the time. I was also teaching on the Breathalyzer Technician Training course for the police at the Centre of Forensic Sciences.

I eventually was promoted to a junior forensic toxicologist scientist. After completing training and mock court conducted by Doug Lucas, George Cimbura and Ron Hallett (my most stressful court appearance ever!), I was appointed an Analyst under the Criminal Code and started testifying in all levels of court. I continued with the CFS for another 16 years. The Director’s Award came during this period of growth and learning.

Doug Lucas was an amazing Director of the Centre of Forensic Sciences and helped make it into one of the largest comprehensive forensic laboratories in North America. His quiet Canadian competence and diplomacy was valued by many international forensic organizations. He was the first Canadian President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. In many ways, he reminded me of our current Prime Minister – Mark Carney.

Lucas was the one who presented me with the Director’s Award in 1989. His mentorship shaped my career and my approach to forensic science. He encouraged early research, including my 1991 bibliography on forensic alcohol science. In the early 1990s, Lucas assigned me the task of introducing the Intoxilyzer 5000C to Ontario to replace manual Breathalyzers.

I thought this AI search provided a short review of our 2 careers.

Here is what the AI search returned:

James Wigmore and Doug Lucas are both distinguished Canadian forensic scientists with a long-standing professional relationship rooted in their work at the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto. They are notably connected through their shared expertise in forensic alcohol toxicology and their joint contributions to the “LUCAS & Wigmore” approach to courtroom testimony.

Key aspects of their partnership include:

• Mentorship and Leadership: James Wigmore joined the CFS in 1976 as a junior technician while Doug Lucas was the Director. Lucas encouraged Wigmore’s early research.
• Key Projects: Lucas assigned Wigmore the task of introducing the Intoxilyzer 5000C to Ontario.
• “Wigmore on Alcohol”: Doug Lucas wrote the foreword for the first edition of Wigmore’s definitive sourcebook, published in 2011.
• Derome Award Recipients: Both men have received the Derome Award, the highest honour from the Canadian Society of Forensic Science. Lucas received it in 1996, and Wigmore in 2005.
• Courtroom Testimony Approach: They developed the LUCAS & Wigmore approach for expert witnesses, which includes “Wigmore’s Rule”: if an answer to a question will give you pleasure to say, it is invariably the wrong answer.
• The Director’s Award was just one milestone in a career that would span five decades, include over 700 criminal cases, and produce definitive texts on alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine toxicology.

References

Douglas M. Lucas, “A Life of Crime: My Career in Forensic Science”, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 353 pp, 2018