For Immediate Release
August 10, 2007 CALGARY
- Former Ontario chief justice Roy McMurtry has been selected as the winner of the Canadian Bar Association's (CBA) 2007 CBA President's Award for his contributions to the legal profession and the association.
"We're pleased to honor Justice McMurtry's contribution to law and the profession. Through his involvement in constitution-building, he helped define the rights and freedoms of our nation," said J. Parker MacCarthy, Q.C., President of the CBA. "His contribution to law and the profession, particularly in the areas of access to justice, law reform, and human rights, is immeasurable." He practiced as a trial lawyer for 17 years before being elected to the Ontario legislature in 1975. Immediately after the 1975 election, McMurtry was appointed attorney general, a post which he held until 1985. From 1978 until 1982 he held the additional portfolio of solicitor general. As attorney general, he argued major constitutional cases in the Supreme Court of Canada, including the landmark 1981 case which led to the new Canadian constitution. During his tenure, he introduced a bilingual judicial system for Ontario. In 1982 he worked with Jean Chretien, then federal justice minister, and Roy Romanow, then attorney general of Saskatchewan, in repatriating the constitution, complete with an entrenched Charter of Rights. McMurtry left the office of attorney general to accept the post of Canada's high commissioner to Britain, which he held from 1985 to 1988. McMurtry was appointed the chief justice of Ontario in February 1996, after having previously been appointed the chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice in February 1994 and the associate chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice in March 1991. A founder and president of the Osgoode Society, which focuses on the writing of legal history, he is also the creator and chair of the Ontario Justice Education Network which is involved in a number of projects related to educating high school students with respect to the administration of justice, as well as conducting summer legal seminars for high-school law teachers. McMurtry is also chair of the advisory committee of Pro Bono Law Ontario, which handles programs related to the provision of pro bono legal services. McMurtry was also instrumental in the creation of the CBA's Windsor-Essex Mediation project, which pioneered mediation as an effective alternative to the courts for dispute resolution. McMurtry received his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, and was called to the Ontario bar in 1958. To be eligible for the CBA President's Award, a candidate must meet at least one of the following criteria: made a significant contribution to the legal profession, to the Canadian Bar Association, or to the public life of Canada. The award is presented only when there is a deserving winner, and was last given in 2006. The 2007 CBA President's Award will be presented at 12:30 p.m. MDT on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2007, in the Telus Convention Centre, Macleod C, Calgary, as part of the 2007 Canadian Legal Conference. The event is open to accredited journalists who have registered with the CBA Media Centre. The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members. - 30 - CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Aug. 10-14,Telus Convention Centre, Glen 208 Room, 403-218-7856; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.
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