Bora Laskin Dead at 71

Bora Laskin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, died yesterday in Ottawa Civic Hospital following complications from pneumonia. He was 71 years old.

Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who appointed Laskin to the post in 1973, said he was “extremely saddened at the loss of such a great Canadian, a brilliant legal mind who presided over the Supreme Court during an important period in the search for the Canadian identity.”

Laskin was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia. His parents came to Winnipeg in 1904 where his father worked in a scrap yard for fifty cents a day. Laskin received his bachelor of arts degree in 1933 from the University of Toronto and a master of law degree from Harvard University in 1937. He then turned to an academic career, joining the University of Toronto in 1940.

In 1946, Laskin was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal and in 1970 he was appointed to the Supreme Court. Less than four years later, he became Canada’s first Jewish Chief Justice.

Prior to this appointment he served on the Board of Trustees of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, was chairman of the Toronto chapter of the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University, and was chairman of the legal committee and vice chairman of the community relations committee of the Ontario Canadian Jewish Congress.

Laskin’s written opinions as Chief Justice were considered among the finest in the field of jurisprudence. He made many notable decisions on constitutional matters such as Indian rights and labor issues.

Funeral services will be held tomorrow in the Jewish Memorial Chapel in Ottawa. Interment will be in the Holy Blossom Memorial Park.