Brian Dickson
Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench | |
---|---|
In office 1963–1967 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Robert George Brian Dickson May 25, 1916 Falaise Gap |
Robert George Brian Dickson
Dickson's tenure as chief justice coincided with the first wave of cases under the new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which reached the Supreme Court from 1984 onwards. Dickson wrote several very influential judgments dealing with the Charter and laid the groundwork for the approach that the courts would take to the Charter.[citation needed]
Early life and family
Dickson was born to Thomas Dickson and Sarah Elizabeth Gibson, in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, in 1916, although the family lived at that time in Wynyard.[1][2] His adolescence and young adulthood occurred during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years, which hit the Canadian prairies particularly hard.[citation needed]
Dickson's father was a bank manager, and the family was eventually transferred to
Sandy MacPherson's father was M. A. MacPherson, the attorney general for Saskatchewan. When the Legislature was sitting in the evenings, Dickson and Sandy MacPherson would come in the evenings to the Attorney General's office to do their homework, and then sit in the galleries of the Assembly and listen to the debates. Dickson said that his interest in the law was triggered by that experience.[2]
The Dickson family later moved to Winnipeg, where Dickson attended the University of Manitoba after graduating from Ridley College in 1934. He was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity. In 1938, Dickson graduated with a Bachelor of Laws, earning the gold medal for his class.[3] His first permanent job was with the Great-West Life Assurance Company, where he worked in the investment section for two years.[1]
It was in Winnipeg as a young law student that Dickson met his future wife, Barbara Sellers. They married in Winnipeg in 1943, when Dickson was back from Europe to attend military staff training in Kingston.[3]
Military career
Dickson was called to the bar in 1940, but before practising law, he enlisted in the Canadian armed forces for active service. He had joined the military reserve in 1939, on the outbreak of
Lieutenant Dickson sailed in February 1941 for Britain with the 3rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. His abilities attracted notice and he was chosen for staff training, returning to Canada for a course in 1943, followed with a tour of duty in British Columbia as brigade major with the Royal Canadian Artillery. In 1944, Dickson volunteered to return to Europe as a captain. He was posted to the
In August 1944, during the battle of Falaise Gap, Dickson was hit by friendly fire and severely wounded, leading to the amputation of his right leg. By coincidence, two of his friends, Bill Lederman and Clarence Shepard, were both serving in the area and witnessed the attack. They later remembered the frantic attempts to have the attack called off, not knowing at the time Dickson was in the target area.[2][3] He was discharged from the army in April 1945.[5]
Years later, when he came to Ottawa, Dickson renewed his ties to the military. In 1983, he accepted the honorary lieutenant-colonelship of the
Legal career
Dickson returned to Winnipeg in 1945 at the end of the war, joining the law firm of Aikins, Loftus, MacAulay, Turner, Thompson & Tritschler. He became a successful corporate lawyer,
Community involvement
In 1950, Dickson volunteered to be head of the Manitoba Red Cross, on the suggestion of a partner who told him it would only involve a few meetings per year. Instead, Dickson took the position just in time for the
Dickson also served as
Judicial career
In 1963, Dickson was appointed to the
During his early years on the Supreme Court, Dickson frequently joined with Justice Laskin and Justice Spence on cases involving civil liberties, often in dissent from the more conservative majority on the Court. The grouping was colloquially referred to as the "LSD connection".[10]
Having come from a corporate law background,[6] Dickson often contributed to the judgments in that field. He also developed a reputation as an important authority on constitutional law, originally relating to law of Canadian federalism and later, the groundwork for the new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[citation needed]
Dickson participated in the 1981
With the introduction of the Charter in 1982, Dickson made many major contributions to the early standards of interpretation. Among his most famous decisions was that of
Later life and death
Dickson served on the Supreme Court for 17 years before retiring on June 30, 1990. He died on October 17, 1998, at age 82.[1]
Honours
In 1990, Dickson was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. In addition to his military service and his ground-breaking judgments on the Charter, the citation mentions his Red Cross volunteerism and service in other humanitarian causes.[12]
The Brian Dickson Law Library at the University of Ottawa is named for him.[13] The library's reading room contains a full reproduction of his home office, artifacts and personal items representing his life.[14]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "Supreme Court of Canada - Biography - Robert George Brian Dickson". Archived from the original on 2014-08-06. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
- ^ a b c M.A. MacPherson, "About Brian, Bill and Me: Regina Collegiate", in DeLloyd J. Guth (ed.), Brian Dickson at the Supreme Court of Canada 1973-1990 (Winnipeg: Canadian Legal History Project, 1998), pp. 1-8.
- ^ a b c d Clarence Shepard, "Treasured Memories: Law, Love and War", in DeLloyd J. Guth (ed.), Brian Dickson at the Supreme Court of Canada 1973-1990 (Winnipeg: Canadian Legal History Project, 1998), pp. 9-14.
- ^ "Clarence Shepard". Winnipeg Free Press Passages. Winnipeg Free Press.
- ^ a b c d e Great Gunners: Col, The Right Honourable RGB Dickson PC, CC, KStJ, CD (1916-1998) Archived July 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Robert Yalden, "Before the Bench: Brian Dickson as Corporate Lawyer," in DeLloyd J. Guth (ed.), Brian Dickson at the Supreme Court of Canada 1973-1990 (Winnipeg: Canadian Legal History Project, 1998), pp. 15-34.
- ^ " 'Midnight Oil' is Burned for Manitoba - - - Corporation Lawyers Tackle Companies Act," October 25, 1963.
- ^ W.H. McConnell, William R. McIntyre: Paladin of Common Law, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2000, p. 82.
- ^ "Illness forces Ritchie to retire from Supreme Court," Montreal Gazette, November 2, 1984.
- ^ Ian Binnie, "Tribute to Bora Laskin Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine".
- ^ Re: Resolution to amend the Constitution (Patriation Reference), [1981] 1 S.C.R. 753.
- ^ Order of Canada Citation: Brian Dickson
- ^ Brian Dickson Law Library
- ^ "About the Brian Dickson Law Library". Library. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
Further reading
- Robert J. Sharpe and Kent Roach, Brian Dickson: A Judge's Journey (Toronto: The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2003).
- Bateman Thomas M.J., Brian Dickson: A Judge's Journey, review