Browse "Politics & Law"

Bertha Wilson, née Wernham, lawyer, judge (b at Kirkcaldy, Scot 18 Sept 1923; d at Ottawa 28 April, 2007), first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Besha (Bessie) Starkman (Perri), organized crime boss (born 14 April 1889 or 21 June 1890 in Poland; died 13 August 1930 in Hamilton, ON). During the Prohibition era she became known as Canada’s first high-profile female crime boss. With her common-law spouse, mobster Rocco Perri, she ran a bootlegging and drug-smuggling enterprise. Starkman was gunned down in the garage of her home and her murderers were never caught. Her funeral was one of the largest ever seen in Hamilton.

Beverley McLachlin, PC, CC, Chief Justice of Canada 2000–17, lawyer and jurist (born 7 September 1943 in Pincher Creek, AB). Born into a rural Alberta farming family of modest means, McLachlin rose to become the first female chief justice of a Commonwealth high court and the longest serving chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. In June 2017, McLachlin announced she would retire from the bench on 15 December 2017, nine months before mandatory retirement at age 75.

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on May 20, 2002. Partner content is not updated.

Those may be welcome words to many of the high court's critics. Although the Supreme Court has escaped some of the opprobrium Canadians feel towards so many of their national institutions, there is still a swell of complaints that the court is tampering in areas best left to elected legislators.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on November 15, 1999

William Alexander Blaikie, PC, OC, politician, United Church minister, professor (born 19 June 1951 in Winnipeg, MB; died 24 September 2022 in Winnipeg). Bill Blaikie was an ordained United Church minister and a proponent of social gospel politics. A major figure in the New Democratic Party (NDP), he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 29 years. He sought the leadership of the federal NDP in 2003, placing second behind Jack Layton. After retiring from federal politics, he was elected to one term as a Manitoba MLA and served as minister of conservation. He was also an adjunct professor of theology and politics at the University of Winnipeg.

William Grenville Davis, PC, CC, OOnt, lawyer, politician, premier of Ontario 1971–85 (born 30 July 1929 in at Brampton, ON; died 8 August 2021 in Brampton). Known as “Brampton Billy” and as Ontario’s “education premier,” Bill Davis served as minister of education from 1962 to 1971 and as premier from 1971 to 1985. His government established Ontario’s system of community colleges; founded several universities and colleges, including the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE); and created public education broadcaster TVOntario. Davis also created the first environment ministry in Canada and played a key role in the patriation of Canada’s constitution.

Bill Wilson (Hemas Kla-Lee-Lee-Kla), Kwagiulth (Kwakwaka’wakw) hereditary chief, politician, administrator (born in 1944 in Comox, British Columbia). A leading theorist in Indigenous politics in British Columbia, Wilson was influential in a successful proposal to amend the Constitution Act, 1982 to enshrine Indigenous rights. He is the father of Jody Wilson-Raybould, former Member of Cabinet in the Justin Trudeau government (2015 to 2019).

Black people have lived in Canada since the beginnings of transatlantic settlement. Although historically very few arrived directly from their ancestral homeland in Africa, the term "African Canadian" is used to identify all descendants of Africa regardless of their place of birth. “Black Canadian” is also used as a more general term. The earliest arrivals were enslaved people brought from New England or the West Indies. Between 1763 and 1900, most Black migrants to Canada were fleeing enslavement in the US. (See also Black Enslavement in Canada.) See also Black History in Canada: 1900–1960 and Black History in Canada: 1960 to Present.

Blaine Myron Higgs, engineer, politician, premier of New Brunswick (born 1 March 1954 in Woodstock, New Brunswick). Higgs is a mechanical engineer who first won elective office in 2010 as a Progressive Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. He was sworn in as premier on 9 November 2018 and won reelection on 14 September 2020.

Blanche Margaret Meagher, teacher, diplomat (b at Halifax, NS 27 Jan 1911; d there 25 Feb 1999). Meagher taught in Halifax 1932-42, when she became one of a few pioneering women in the Dept of External Affairs. She served under H.L.

Bleus, see Parti bleu.

An alcoholic, usually in debt, Edwards moved to Toronto in 1909, then to Montréal, Port Arthur, Ont, and Winnipeg, returning to Calgary in 1911. Unconventional to the end, he supported Prohibition in the referendum of 1916, then won election as an independent in the 1921 provincial elections.

This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on April 17, 1995

Bora Laskin, lawyer, judge (b at Fort William [Thunder Bay], Ont 5 Oct 1912; d at Ottawa 26 Mar 1984). After graduating from U of T (BA 1933, MA 1935), Laskin received an LLB from Osgoode Hall in 1936 and an LLM from Harvard in 1937.