Gérard Vincent La Forest (born April 1, 1926) is a former

puisne justice A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

of the Supreme Court of Canada. He served there from January 16, 1985 to September 30, 1997. He is currently counsel at law firm Stewart McKelvey in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Early life and education

Born in Grand Falls,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, to J. Alfred La Forest and Philomène Lajoie, he first studied at

St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...

and then went on to study law at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Ameri ...

, obtaining a BCL in 1949. Following law school he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship and attended St John's College, Oxford receiving a BA in 1951 and an MA in 1956. He then went on the study at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, completing an

LL.M 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 ...

in 1965 and an

LL.D Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the earl ...

in 1966. He was called to the Bar of New Brunswick in 1949 and was designated a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1968.

Career

From 1952 to 1955 he worked in the federal Department of Justice then later as a legal advisor. In 1956 La Forest began teaching at the University of New Brunswick, moving to the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

to become Dean of the Faculty of Law in 1968. From 1970 to 1974, he went back to work for the federal government as Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Canada (Research & Planning). Afterwards he was a member of the

Law Reform Commission of Canada The Law Commission of Canada was an independent law commission that gave advice to the Canadian government on matters of law. The body was created in 1971 as the Law Reform Commission of Canada and was disbanded in 1992. The body was reestablished ...

, until 1979 at which point he returned to teaching at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

. In 1977, following the election of the separatist

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

government the previous year, the

Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annual Meeting was he ...

set up a Committee on the Constitution. The Committee's mandate was to study and make recommendations on the

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...

.CBA Resolution 77-01-A: Constitution of Canada - Special Committee; reproduced in ''Canadian Bar Association: Towards a new Canada - Committee on the Constitution'', p. xv. La Forest was asked to be the executive director for the committee's work. The members of the Committee were drawn from each province of Canada, and included two future provincial premiers, two future provincial chief justices, and a future Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. The Committee presented its report to the CBA at the next annual meeting, in 1978. The Committee made wide-ranging recommendations for constitutional change, including a completely new constitution, abolishing the monarchy, changing the Senate, entrenching language rights and a bill of rights, and changing the balance of powers between the federal government and the provinces. In 1981 he was appointed to the

New Brunswick Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Brunswick (french: Cour d'appel du Nouveau-Brunswick) (frequently referred to as New Brunswick Court of Appeal or NBCA) is the appellate court in the province of New Brunswick. There are five Justices, one Chief Justice, ...

. Then on January 16, 1985 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, staying until September 30, 1997.

Honours, awards and affiliations

In 1975, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He was awarded honorary

LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

degrees from the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

(1981),

(1988), St. Thomas University (1988),

(1988),

University of Moncton A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

(1988) and

Bates College Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...

(1990). He was made

Doctor of Civil Law Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees. At Oxford, the degree is a higher ...

by the

in 1985, the same year he received a D.U. from the

. In 2000, he was made a Companion 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 cen ...

Published works

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:La Forest, Gerard 1926 births 20th-century Canadian civil servants Acadian people Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Canadian legal scholars Canadian King's Counsel Canadian Rhodes Scholars Canadian Roman Catholics Canadian university and college faculty deans Companions of the Order of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Lawyers in New Brunswick Living people People from Grand Falls, New Brunswick University of Alberta faculty University of New Brunswick alumni University of New Brunswick faculty Yale University alumni University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law alumni