George Philip Gregory Springate (May 12, 1938 – November 20, 2019) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

police officer, lawyer, politician, professional football player, professor, and

citizenship judge The Citizenship Commission is an administrative tribunal within Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The overall mandate of the Commission is to assess referred applications to ensure they meet the residence or physical-presence ...

Life and career

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, the son of Walter L. Springate and Eleanor Woodhouse, he 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 ...

from

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène S ...

. He also earned a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL, or B.C.L.; la, Baccalaureus Civilis Legis) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Camb ...

degree in 1968 and a Bachelor of Common Law degree in 1969 from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. From 1958 to 1969, he was a police officer with the

Montreal Police Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

. From 1966 to 1968, he was a member of the

McGill Redmen The McGill Redbirds (formerly the McGill Redmen) and McGill Martlets are the varsity athletic teams that represent McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team name According to Suzanne Morton, a professor of history at McGill, the name ...

football team. In

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

, he played 11 games with and was part of the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

winning

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

. In total he played 17 games with the Alouettes over 3 seasons. In

, he was elected to the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

as a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

for the riding of Sainte-Anne. He was re-elected in

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. In 1974 he was removed from the Liberal Caucus for voting against the French-only language bill along with John Ciaccia. In his third term as a Liberal, he represented the riding of Westmount. He did not run in the 1981 Quebec general election. George Springate was also a television sportcaster for CBC Montreal in the 1980s and hosted the local daily current affairs program "MIDDAY". In 1989, he 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 ...

. He was a teacher in criminal and civil law at

John Abbott College John Abbott College ( French: ''Collège John Abbott)'' is an English-language public college located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada, near the western tip of the Island of Montreal. John Abbott College is one of eight English publ ...

. He was a founding member of the "Police Technology" program at John Abbott College in 1973; he retired from teaching in 2008. He was also a columnist for The Montreal Daily News and The Sunday Express, local Montreal newspapers. In 1999 and again in 2006, he was appointed a

. In 2008 he was appointed Canada's Senior Citizenship Judge for a five-year term. George was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in April 2018. He died in Ottawa on November 20, 2019 at the age of 81.https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/george-springate-a-man-of-many-careers-dies-at-81 y/

Notes

External links

* 1938 births 2019 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian citizenship judges Canadian police officers Canadian sportsperson-politicians Lawyers from Montreal McGill Redbirds football players McGill University Faculty of Law alumni Members of the Order of Canada Montreal Alouettes players Players of Canadian football from Quebec Politicians from Montreal Quebec Liberal Party MNAs Service de police de la Ville de Montréal Sir George Williams University alumni Canadian football people from Montreal {{Liberal-Quebec-MNA-stub