Bora Laskin
Bora Laskin, was a Canadian lawyer, academic and judge. He served on the Supreme Court of Canada for fourteen years, including a decade as the 14th Chief Justice of Canada.
Early life and family
Laskin was born in Fort William, Ontario, the son of Max Laskin and Bluma Zingel. His brother, Saul Laskin, went on to become the first mayor of Thunder Bay. His other brother, Charles, was a shirt designer and manufacturer.Laskin married Peggy Tenenbaum. The couple had two children: John, who followed in his father's footsteps and became a judge at the Ontario Court of Appeal, and Barbara. His grandson carries on his name. His nephew John B. Laskin is a judge of the Federal Court of Appeal, having previously been a faculty member of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and a prominent commercial litigator in Toronto.
Education
Laskin was educated as a lawyer at Osgoode Hall Law School. He initially studied at the University of Toronto, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1933. He received the degrees of Master of Arts in 1935 and earned a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto in 1936.While at the University of Toronto, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.
In 1937, he received a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. He earned a gold medal at both the University of Toronto Law School and at Harvard Law School.
Legal career
Despite his superior academic record, Laskin, who was Jewish, was unable to find work at any law firm of note, because of the anti-Semitism that pervaded the English-Canadian legal profession at the time. As a result, his first job after graduating was writing headnotes for the Canadian Abridgement, a legal research tool.In order to be called to the bar, it was required that he serve articles with a lawyer who was already a member of the bar. He had trouble finding a lawyer who would serve as his principal, because non-Jewish lawyers would not accept Jewish students. Through connections, he eventually found a young Jewish lawyer, Sam Gotfrid, who was willing to sign as his principal, but Gotfrid was himself only just starting out and could not provide Laskin with any work or salary. A year into his articles, Laskin found a non-Jewish lawyer, W.C. Davidson, who was willing to take him as an articling student, and he finished his articles with Davidson. In later years, Laskin would say that he articled with Davidson, not mentioning his initial start with Gotfrid.
Ultimately, Laskin decided to pursue his career in academia. From 1940 to 1965 he taught at the University of Toronto. For twenty-three years he served as associate editor of Dominion Law Reports and Canadian Criminal Cases. He also wrote Canadian Constitutional Law and many other legal texts. His interests were in labour law, constitutional law, and human rights. He was a founding member of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Judicial career
Ontario Court of Appeal
Laskin's career on the bench began in 1965 with his appointment to the Ontario Court of Appeal. While on the Court of Appeal, Laskin gave a decision in a divorce case, upholding the constitutional authority of the federal Parliament to include the right to spousal support under the Divorce Act. Laskin held that spousal support was ancillary to Parliament's constitutional jurisdiction over divorce under the Constitution Act. When the Supreme Court of Canada considered the same issue three years later, it unanimously reached the same conclusion, citing Laskin's decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal.Supreme Court of Canada
On March 19, 1970 he was appointed on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to the Supreme Court of Canada, becoming the first Jewish justice to sit on that Court. Again on the advice of Trudeau, Laskin was appointed Chief Justice on December 27, 1973; a position he held until his death in 1984.Laskin's appointment as Chief Justice generated some controversy. He was the second-most junior justice on the Court, having served for only three years. The long-standing tradition was that on the retirement of the Chief Justice, the senior puisne justice on the Court would be appointed. Since the creation of the Court in 1875, this practice had been followed except on two occasions, in 1906 and 1924, when the senior puisne justices had been passed over. By that tradition, the appointment as Chief Justice would have gone to Justice Ronald Martland, who had been on the Court for fifteen years. When Prime Minister Trudeau appointed Laskin, it was said that Justice Martland had been given very little notice that he would be passed over, and was upset by it. The Finance Minister, John Turner, was rumoured to be furious at the departure from the traditions of the Court.
Judgments
Judicial philosophy
Laskin was a liberal jurist who often found himself on the minority side of decisions. His specialty was labour law and constitutional law and he had a reputation as a civil libertarian.On matters of federalism under the Constitution Act, 1867, Laskin has been considered the most aggressive supporter of the federal powers of any justice since Confederation. This made for a stark contrast with fellow Justice Jean Beetz, who was known as one of the strongest supporters of provincial powers under the Constitution.
In his earlier years on the Supreme Court, Laskin was frequently in dissent. During the 1970s, Laskin frequently joined with Justice Spence and Justice Dickson 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."
Laskin often took a position that was later adopted by a majority of the Court. Among his most famous dissents was his opinion in Murdoch v. Murdoch, where he was the sole judge who would have ruled in favour of a wife's application for an equal division of property acquired during the course of the marriage. The outcome of the case was highly controversial. It triggered reforms to matrimonial laws across the country, adopting Laskin's view of property equality between husband and wife. Years later, Laskin said that the position he took in this case was the likely cause of his promotion to Chief Justice over the more senior Ronald Martland.
Death
Laskin was in poor health the last few years of his life, and died in office on March 26, 1984, at the age of 71 from pneumonia. Two weeks before his death, on March 13, 1984, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.Prime Minister Trudeau offered a state funeral, but the family declined because Laskin "liked things very simple." Instead, Laskin lay in state in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court building, prior to a simple funeral ceremony in Ottawa and interment at Holy Blossom Memorial Park in Toronto. His brother Saul Laskin was later buried beside him.
Recognition
- Lakehead University, in Laskin's hometown of Thunder Bay, honoured him in several ways.
- *The Bora Laskin Building, used primarily by the Faculty of Education.
- *The Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, established 2013.
- The Laskin Moot was named in his honour.
- The main library of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law is named for Laskin.
- The Bora Laskin Law Society in Ottawa was named in his honour.
- Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1964, giving him the right to the post nominal letters "FRSC".
Honorary degrees
;Honorary Degrees
| Country | Date | School | Degree |
| Ontario | 1965 | Queen's University | Doctor of Laws |
| Ontario | 1967 | Trent University | Doctor of Laws |
| Ontario | 1968 | University of Toronto | Doctor of Laws |
| New Brunswick | 1968 | University of New Brunswick | Doctor of Civil Law |
| Ontario | September 1970 | University of Windsor | Doctor of Civil Law |
| Ontario | 1971 | Law Society of Upper Canada | Doctor of Laws |
| Nova Scotia | 1971 | Dalhousie University | Doctor of Laws |
| Ontario | 2 June 1971 | University of Western Ontario | Doctor of Civil Law |
| Alberta | 1972 | University of Alberta | Doctor of Laws |
| Manitoba | 1972 | University of Manitoba | |
| Ontario | Spring 1972 | York University | Doctor of Laws |
| Israel | 1975 | Hebrew University of Jerusalem | |
| British Columbia | 1975 | Simon Fraser University | Doctor of Laws |
| Ontario | May 1975 | Ontario Institute for Studies in Education | |
| British Columbia | April 1976 | University of Victoria | Doctor of Laws |
| Ontario | 1978 | Carleton University | Doctor of Laws |
| British Columbia | 29 May 1981 | University of British Columbia | Doctor of Laws |
| Ontario | 1982 | Lakehead University | Doctor of Letters |
| Italy | 5 July 1983 | University of Padova | Doctor of Political Science |