Clément Gascon (born September 5, 1960) is a Canadian jurist, who was nominated to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

by Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

on June 3, 2014, and officially appointed the Court on June 9, 2014. He officially retired from the court on September 15, 2019. Born in 1960 to Dr. Bernard Gascon and Denyse Clément, Gascon graduated from Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf and McGill University. Gascon was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1982 and in addition to his legal practice (in business, labour and construction law) was also a lecturer at

Cégep de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu The Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is a post-secondary education institution (cégep: College of General and Professional Education) located in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, province of Quebec, Canada. The enabling legislation is the ''General and Vo ...

, Université du Québec à Montreal, McGill University and Bar of Quebec. Prior to his Supreme Court appointment, Gascon served on the

Quebec Superior Court The Superior Court of Quebec (french: Cour supérieure du Québec) is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Qu ...

from 2002 to 2012, and the Quebec Court of Appeal from 2012 to 2014. He was previously a lawyer for the Montreal law firm Heenan Blaikie for 21 years. In June 2018, Gascon wrote for the majority of the court when it found that the

Canadian Human Rights Tribunal The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (french: Tribunal canadien des droits de la personne, link=no) is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 through the ''Canadian Human Rights Act''. It is directly funded by the Parliament of Canada and i ...

's determination that the

Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' (, long name ''An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians'') is a Canadian act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still ...

did not violate the Canadian Human Rights Act was reasonable. Three concurring justices instead argued that this context was not due judicial deference and instead required review for correctness. On April 15, 2019, Gascon announced that he would be retiring effective September 15, 2019. On the evening of May 8, 2019, the Ottawa Police Service issued a notice asking for the public's help in locating Gascon, who had not been seen since early the same afternoon. Shortly afterwards, they announced that he had been located safely. Gascon later announced he had had a panic attack, related in part to his recent decision to retire early from the Court.

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1960 births French Quebecers Judges in Quebec Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Living people McGill University alumni McGill University Faculty of Law alumni People from Montreal 21st-century Canadian judges {{Canada-law-bio-stub McGill University faculty Université du Québec à Montréal faculty

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