Justice Rand's biography: reflections and recollections.

• Author: La Forest, Gerard V.
• Position: Canadian Supreme Court Justice Ivan C. Rand - Testimonial

Some twenty years ago, I learned that William Kaplan was embarking on the task of writing a biography of Mr. Justice Rand, (1) one of the most accomplished judges ever to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada, and certainly far and away the strongest in his time. I was delighted to hear this, for at one stage I had come to know Justice Rand fairly well and I shall accordingly begin this review by briefly describing the context in which I got to know him.

I first met Justice Rand in 1959 when I was a professor at the U. N. B. Law School. It was a propitious time for the Faculty. We had just moved from Saint John, where the school had been since its inception in the nineteenth century, into Somerville House in Fredericton: Lord Beaverbrook's former home in New Brunswick, which he had donated to the University following its decision to move the school. At the same time two additional professors were named, and the Faculty was looking forward to transforming itself from just another trade school into a modern university law faculty, or as "Caesar" Wright was wont to put it, "an honest to God law school".

In addition, to ensure a nucleus of first-rate students, Lord Beaverbrook had persuaded Lady Dunn to create a number of prestigious law scholarships; and to that end, a selection committee was established consisting of a number of outstanding New Brunswickers, a step no doubt taken to fully impress her ladyship with the importance attached to her gift by the university. Rand, who after his retirement from the Court in 1959 had become the founding Dean of Law at the University of Western Ontario, generously agreed to chair the Committee. I was its Secretary, and it was in that context that I came to know him.

Needless to say, we made sure that our distinguished chairperson was not left to his own devices during his visits whenever he was not visiting friends, notably Horace Pettigrove. Since he preferred legs over mechanical locomotion whenever practicable, I would often walk back to his hotel with him, and in the evening my wife and I and the Dean, Bill Ryan, would take him out to dinner or at our home. He enjoyed conversation through which I learned of his deep devotion to the province--where he planned to return--as well as his quirks; he would wax eloquent about the quality of the apples at the market in London, Ontario, and he could not understand "why anybody would put poison--meaning alcohol--into their bodies". More importantly, I learned of his passion for his work, both on the Court and in the course of performing the fascinating assignments to which he was constantly being summoned. Throughout his period on the Court and afterwards, Rand was regularly involved in a wide array of important issues throughout the country; indeed in the case of the Palestine dispute, at the international level. He enjoyed talking about these activities and, of course, I enjoyed listening. I predictably was very impressed with the man; less predictably, Bill Ryan told me that Rand had formed a very good opinion of me.

The last time I spoke to Rand was in Ottawa where, in 1968, we met by chance in the lobby of the Chateau Laurier Hotel. He was at the time engaged in an investigation into labour relations in Newfoundland; and I was there on one of the many consulting jobs for the government that regularly came my way at the time. He was in good form and we sat down together for a chat on a bench rounding a column in the lobby. He was enthusiastic about his new venture. At some point--I shall never forget it--with his fist...