Clayton Charles Ruby (6 February 1942 – 2 August 2022) was a Canadian lawyer and activist, specializing in constitutional and criminal law and civil rights.

Early life and education

Ruby was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, to Marie (Bochner) and Toronto property developer and publisher Louis W. Ruby. Ruby received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

in 1963. He earned a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 1969, and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1969. In 1973, he earned a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

Career

From 1976 to 2008 Ruby was a partner with the law firm of Ruby & Edwardh with Marlys Edwardh. After 2007, he was a partner with the law firm of Ruby Shiller Chan Hasan in

. In 1991, Ruby was part of the legal team used by the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...

to defend itself and nine of its members who were on trial for stealing documents concerning Scientology from the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, the

Canadian Mental Health Association The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is a Canadian non-profit mental health organization that focusing on resources, programs and advocacy. It was founded on April 22, 1918, by Dr. Clarence M. Hincks and Clifford W. Beers. Originally nam ...

, two police forces and other institutions. The case stemmed from a surprise raid of the Church of Scientology's Toronto headquarters in 1983 by more than a hundred policemen who seized an estimated 250,000 documents over the course of two days. Legal maneuvers used by Ruby delayed the case for many years and he later unsuccessfully attempted to get the case dismissed because of "unreasonable delay." On 25 June 1992, seven church members were convicted for operations against the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorpo ...

, the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General and the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP). The Church of Scientology itself was convicted on two counts of breach of the public trust (infiltration of the offices of the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General) and was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine.Full text of the 1996 appeal decision from CanLII
1996 CanLII 1650 (ON C.A.) In 2006, Ruby was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. In late 2005, Ruby became the acting Treasurer, or elected head, of the

Law Society of Upper Canada The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; french: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; frenc ...

, the body responsible for regulating Ontario's legal profession. On 23 February 2006, however, Ruby was defeated in a special election and ceased to be Treasurer.The Law Society of Upper Canada, List of Law Society Treasurers
Retrieved 28 August 2014. In 2012, Ruby represented a plaintiff who attempted to oust Mayor

Rob Ford Robert Bruce Ford (May 28, 1969 – March 22, 2016) was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor representing Ward 2 Etobi ...

of Toronto in a high-profile conflict of interest case, which the plaintiff and Ruby won. The mayor subsequently launched an appeal. On 25 January 2012, Ford won the appeal and remained in office. In 2013, Ruby successfully argued for the former Ontario Deputy Minister of Education Ben Levin's release on $100,000 bail. Ruby told reporters "(Ben Levin) is a man who has made enormous contributions to the educational system in this province, and indeed with changes that have been copied around the world, And I intend to work very hard to see that he shall be innocent." Ben Levin was charged with one count of making child pornography, one count of counselling to commit an indictable offence, 2 counts of distributing child pornography and agreeing to, or arranging, a sexual offence against a child under 16. Levin was eventually sentenced to three years in prison on the aforementioned charges.

Personal life

Clayton Ruby's father, Louis Ruby, was publisher of ''Flash Weekly'', a crusading Toronto tabloid and scandal sheet that ran from the late 1930s until the 1970s. Ruby was married to Madam Justice Harriet Sachs of the

Ontario Superior Court of Justice The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges. ...

. They have two daughters, Emma Ruby-Sachs and Kate J. Best (née Ruby-Sachs). Ruby died August 2, 2022 at the age of 80 from complications from heart surgery.

Clients

Ruby's high-profile clients included: *Ben Levin *

Adbusters The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based Nonprofit organization, not-for-profit, Environmentalism, pro-environment organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia. Adbusters describes itself ...

* Dwayne Karlton Armstrong *The

* Atif Rafay and Glen Sebastian Burns * Abdurahman Khadr *

Svend Robinson Svend Robinson (born March 4, 1952) is a Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2004, who represented suburban Vancouver-area constituencies of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party (NDP). He is noted as the first me ...

Guy Paul Morin Guy Paul Morin is a Canadian who was wrongly convicted of the October 1984 rape and murder of his nine-year-old next-door neighbour, Christine Jessop of Queensville, north of Toronto, Ontario. DNA testing led to a subsequent overturning of t ...

*A group of four people challenging

's ''

Adoption Information Disclosure Act The ''Adoption Information Disclosure Act'', formally ''An Act respecting the disclosure of information and records to adopted persons and birth parents'', also known as Bill 183, is an Ontario (Canada) law regarding the disclosure of information ...

'' *The Banned Aid Coalition * Charlie Veitch *

Faith Goldy Faith Julia Goldy (born June 8, 1989), also known as Faith Goldy-Bazos, is a Canadian far-right, white nationalist political commentator, associated with the alt-right and white supremacy. She was a contributor to ''The Rebel Media'' and cover ...

References

External links

Biography of Ruby
from the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, Clayton 1942 births 2022 deaths Canadian civil rights lawyers Canadian King's Counsel Lawyers in Ontario Members of the Order of Canada Activists from Toronto Treasurers of the Law Society of Upper Canada University of Toronto alumni University of Toronto Faculty of Law alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni York University alumni Canadian Jews