'Love justice, seek peace and follow it'--Augustine, bishop in North Africa, 353-430: the busy life of Dirk Ryneveld, QC.

One of Slobodan Milosevic's prosecutors likens the ongoing trial against the infamous former president of Yugoslavia to a hockey game in its third period. From 1999 to 2002, Dirk Ryneveld was a senior trial lawyer at a 21st-century version of the Nuremberg war trials--the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavi held in The Hague, Netherlands. Mr. Ryneveld, whose work as a prosecutor helped to establish rape and sexual enslavement as war crimes, describes the case he led against Mr. Milosevic's crimes in Kosovo as the game's first period. The case against his crimes in Croatia was the second period, and the case involving crimes in Bosnia, scheduled to end in December, is the third period. There is a difference to hockey in The Hague, however. There will be a fourth period--Mr. Milosevic's defence. Mr. Ryneveld realizes he may have to take another shift on the ice. "I have my robe and an open invitation to return," he says.

Dirk Ryneveld's more than 30 years in the legal profession have often brought him face to face with what can truly be described as "a slice of life." In 1978, he served as chief counsel to the coroner in an investigation into the crash of a Pacific Western 737 in Cranbrook, B.C., in which more than 40 people died. He was counsel for the Crown on various arson trials involving the Doukhohors. He has been a trial counsel on numerous murder trials and on serious, significant cases at all levels of court, including cases involving DNA and complex forensic evidence such as hair and fibre, tool mark identification, serology, toxicology, chemistry, pathology, psychiatry and psychology. A frequent lecturer and speaker, he has also been an adviser to senior government officials dealing with criminal justice and a member of numerous attorney general committees on various aspects of criminal law.

Last November, Mr. Ryneveld was named Police Complaint Commissioner for British Columbia. A news release from the provincial government announcing his appointment praised him for his "extensive legal experience and his reputation for fairness and integrity," a background that should be a prerequisite for any police complaint commissioner anywhere.

Dirk Ryneveld is remarkable in another way, at least in light of the recent Statistics Canada census--he is a Presbyterian. Born in Rotterdam, Holland, in 1946, he moved to Canada with his parents, Adrian and Truus, and older brother and sister when he was six years old. Following several difficult years of working at the entry-level jobs available to new immigrants, his father finally realized his dream of owning a dairy farm. The family settled in Kimberley, B.C., where they attended St. Andrew's Church. Recognizing neither of his sons was likely to take over the farm, and having worked for nearly 10 years without a day off, Adrian sold the farm and became a head gardener. Truus, who had worked 16-hour days with her husband on the farm, later worked for a bakery.

After graduating from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., Dirk attended law school at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, graduating in 1971. He no doubt has an alumnus's fondness for Saskatoon for more than one reason. It was at St. Andrew's Church, Saskatoon, that he met Fiona, his wife of 33 years.

According to Mr. Ryneveld, he became a Christian in his teenage years "probably without even knowing it." There was no sudden revelation or exact moment when it happened, he says. "It was a gradual intellectual process, an awareness of an evolving faith." The Rynevelds' faith continued to he an integral part of their lives alter they were married. Wherever Dirk's increasingly busy career has taken them, they have attended a Presbyterian church. In Cranbrook, B.C., they were members of Knox, where Dirk served as an elder. When they moved to Victoria in 1985, they joined St. Andrew's, where he also served as an elder. They even managed to maintain a Presbyterian connection in The Hague, attending the American Protestant Church, an interdenominational congregation sponsored by the World Council of Churches, of which The Presbyterian Church in Canada is a member. incidentally, Fiona was not in The Hague simply to accompany her husband. She, too, worked for the war crimes tribunal, in administration.

Each stage of Mr. Ryneveld's career seems to have prepared him for the next. "Some people think I seek out challenges. I prefer to think the challenges seek me out," he replies with a chuckle when asked about the course his career has taken. "I'm like the guy with the little black cloud over his head," he says, bringing to mind (for older readers, anyway) the character Joe Btfsplk from the comic strip L'il Abner. However, unlike the unfortunate Mr. Btfsplk, Mr. Ryneveld has been far from a jinx wherever he has gone. He has had to meet some huge challenges and make some excruciating decisions. He freely admits that not all his decisions have been popular, but he finds reassurance in that proverbial bit of wisdom, "It's impossible to please everybody." One thing for certain, he has "thoroughly enjoyed" every job he has had.

His work with the war crimes tribunal has brought Mr. Ryneveld into contact with evidence of unspeakable crimes: mass murder, torture, rape, sexual enslavement and the forced exodus of hundreds of thousands of non-Serbs. Asked if his faith has helped him deal with those horrors, Mr. Ryneveld replies without hesitation. It has done much more than that, he says. His faith has carried him through the agonizing situations he has faced on a daily basis during his more than 30 years as a prosecutor. "I have probably seen more than most people," he suggests. "It's not only the fate of the victims and their families, but the fate of the family of the accused as well."

Articulate and sincere, Dirk Ryneveld would make a wonderful apologist for Christianity. Yet, he has no need to defend his faith. "I believe we are given sufficient measure to cope with life's challenges," he says. "I am very grateful to God for giving me the strength I need."