The Importance of Advocacy

• Author: John D. Arnup
• Pages: 1-5

The

Importance

of

Advocacy

The Honourable John D. Arnup, Q.C

[Editors' note: Notes

of the

address given

by the

Honourable John

D.

Arnup, Q.C.

at The

Advocates' Society

End of

Term Dinner,

18

June

1987,

in

accepting

The

Advocates' Society

Medal.]

When Allan Houston telephoned

me on the

morning

of May

14

and

asked

if I

would

be

willing

to

accept

The

Advocates' Society Medal

for

Advocacy,

I

couldn't believe

it.

"Advocacy?"

I

said

to

myself, "I'm like

Northern Dancer

— I

don't

do it

anymore."

When

I had

recovered from

the

initial shock, about

ten

seconds

later,

I

said

to

myself: "You're still involved

in

advocacy. You're

the

chair-

man of the

Board

of

Advisors

of The

Advocates' Society Institute,

and

you've

been working

on

that project

for

over

a

year. It's your

own

decision

not to

appear

as

counsel

in any

tribunal

or

forum, judicial

or

otherwise."

So

I

said

I

would

be

honoured

to

receive

it, and I am.

Then

Allan

asked

me if it was all

right with

me if Mac

Austin made

the

speech lead-

ing up to the

presentation.

What could

I

say?

I'd

already

accepted

the

invitation, which came with

no

strings attached.

I

couldn't very well say,

"I

like your

offer,

but I

have some misgivings about

one of its

terms."

The

late

John

D.

Arnup

was a

Judge

of the

Court

of

Appeal

for

Ontario

from

1970

to

1985.

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