Emmett Matthew Hall

Hall, Emmett Matthew

Emmett Matthew Hall, lawyer, judge (b at St-Colomban, Qué 9 Nov 1898; d at Saskatoon 11 Nov 1995). In 1910 Hall moved to Saskatoon with his family. A classmate of John G. DIEFENBAKER, he graduated in law from the University of Saskatchewan in 1919 and was appointed chief justice Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan in 1957. He became chief justice of Saskatchewan in 1961 and was elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1962, retiring in 1973.

Hall chaired reports on a national health scheme for Canada (1964), the Ontario primary- and secondary-school programs (1968), railway arbitration (1973), provincial court structure in Saskatchewan (1974) and grain handling and transportation in western Canada (1977), but is best remembered for the Committee on Aims and Objectives of Education (1968). The subsequent "Hall-Dennis" report focused on the need to accomodate teaching to the stages of child development and on alternative education. He received the only honorary medical degree ever awarded (U of O), and was chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan 1980-86.