Lawrence A. Poitras (April 3, 1931 – April 9, 2022) was a judge in the Canadian province of

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 ...

. He was best known for serving on an inquiry into the wrongful conviction of Donald Marshall and overseeing a high-profile public inquiry into the

Sûreté du Québec The (SQ; , ) is the provincial police service for the Canadian province of Quebec. No official English name exists, but the agency's name is sometimes translated to 'Quebec Provincial Police' or QPP in English-language sources. The headquarters ...

(SQ).

Biography

Poitras had 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 year ...

degree from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

(1953) and a law degree from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...

. He worked as a journalist with the ''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the domi ...

'' before training as a barrister. He started a private law practice in 1957 and was named as 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 1973. Poitras was appointed a justice of the Quebec Superior Court in 1975, became associate chief justice in 1983, and was promoted to chief justice in 1992. He left the bench in 1996 and joined Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, from which he retired in 2007. In 1986, he was appointed to serve on a three-person commission of inquiry examining the wrongful conviction of Donald Marshall, a member of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) 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. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...

community who served eleven years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The commission's seven volume report, released in 1990, described Nova Scotia's justice system as plagued by racism, unprofessionalism, and unfairness. The commissioners concluded that Marshall was "convicted and sent to prison, in part at least, because he was a native person," recommended an independent review process to investigate alleged cases of wrongful conviction, and called for more members of visible minority communities to be appointed to the bench and hired for correctional services. In late 1995, he appointed a single judge to oversee all aspects of former

Canadian prime minister The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...

Brian Mulroney's libel suit against the

Canadian Department of Justice The Department of Justice (french: Ministère de la Justice) is a department of the Government of Canada that represents the Canadian government in legal matters. The Department of Justice works to ensure that Canada's justice system is as fair, ...

and

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) regarding statements made by RCMP officials about Mulroney's dealings with businessman

Karlheinz Schreiber Karlheinz Schreiber (born 25 March 1934) is a German and Canadian citizen, an industrialist, lobbyist, fundraiser, arms dealer and businessman. He has been in the news regarding his alleged role in the 1999 CDU contributions scandal in Germany, ...

. The government of Quebec appointed Poitras to lead a public inquiry into the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) in October 1996, following accusations of corruption and evidence tampering within the force. Poitras was given discretion as to the inquiry's parameters and indicated that it would not be limited by a time frame. The 2,700-page report, issued in 1999, accused the force of abusing its powers of arrest, being more concerned with protecting its image than investigating misconduct, and having an "unhealthy air of solidarity, expressed through the law of silence and retaliations" against dissident officers. He later prepared a report on municipal de-mergers in the buildup to the 2003 Quebec municipal elections. He concluded that de-mergers could save money. In 2005, he served as an election monitor in the

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

community of the

Kanesatake Kanesatake (''Kanehsatà:ke'' in Mohawk) is a Mohawk (''Kanien'kéha:ka'' in Mohawk) settlement on the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains in southwestern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence rivers and about west of ...

. In 2003, he was named as 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 cen ...

. He died on April 9, 2022, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poitras, Lawrence 1931 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Canadian judges Canadian King's Counsel Judges in Quebec McGill University alumni Members of the Order of Canada Université de Montréal alumni