Jules Deschênes, (June 7, 1923 – May 10, 2000) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

Quebec Superior Court judge. Born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, to Wilfrid Deschênes and Berthe Bérard, he completed

grade school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

under the supervision of les Clercs de Saint-Viateur and classical studies under les Messieurs de Saint-Sulpice. He graduated from the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and was admitted to the

Bar of Quebec The Bar of Quebec () is the regulatory body for the practice of advocates in the Canadian province of Quebec and one of two legal regulatory bodies in the province. It was founded on May 30, 1849, as the Bar of Lower Canada (). History The begi ...

in 1946. From 1946 to 1960 he practiced law. In 1961, he was named

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

. In 1962 he was elected to the Council of the Bar of Montreal. In 1962 he started to teach law at the University of Montreal. On January 8, 1964 he accepted to prosecute at the Commission of Inquiry into the famous Coffin affair. In 1972 he was appointed a Justice of the Quebec Court of Appeal. In 1973 he was appointed, by

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

, Chief Justice of the Quebec Superior Court. He served in this position for ten years. From 1984 to 1987 he was involved with the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities. In 1985 he was appointed to head the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada on alleged war criminals in Canada in which he officially reprimanded those special interest groups within the Jewish Canadian community whom, he wrote, had tabled "grossly exaggerated" claims about the number of alleged war criminals supposedly hiding in Canada. He submitted his report in 1986. He was the 102 president of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

from 1990 until 1992. From 1993 to 1997, he sat on the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...

. He published his autobiography, ''Sur la ligne de feu'', in 1988. After his death in 2000, he was entombed at the

Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery (, ) is a rural cemetery located in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which was founded in 1854. The entrance and the grounds run along a part of Côte-des-Neiges Ro ...

in Montreal. He married Jacqueline Lachapelle in 1948. They had two daughters and three sons.

Honours

* In 1977 he was elected a Fellow of the

. * In 1981 he received an honorary doctorate from

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. * In 1989 he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

and was promoted to Companion in 1992.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deschenes, Jules 1923 births 2000 deaths Lawyers from Montreal Judges in Quebec Companions of the Order of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Université de Montréal alumni International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia judges Canadian King's Counsel Université de Montréal Faculty of Law alumni Canadian judges of United Nations courts and tribunals Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery 20th-century Canadian lawyers