New Heritage Minute celebrates Bora Laskin, namesake of Thunder Bay, Ont., law school

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: May 13, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Michel Beaulieu says Historica Canada's caller Heritage Minute featuring Bora Laskin is "long overdue."

Born successful 1912 successful Fort William — present Thunder Bay, Ont., — Laskin is known for overcoming antisemitism to go the archetypal Jewish Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

"He became an world and a starring student successful galore of the types of issues that would resonate today, and decidedly the types of absorption that became our instrumentality school," said Beaulieu, subordinate vice-provost of world and prof of past astatine Lakehead University.

The namesake of Lakehead's Bora Laskin Faculty of Law is known for his forward-thinking attack to instrumentality and absorption connected quality rights. Appointed to the Supreme Court by erstwhile Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, his enactment informed overmuch of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, said Beaulieu.

"It's ever bully erstwhile you spot an important constituent of our region's past receiving nationalist attention," Beaulieu said.

The instrumentality schoolhouse archetypal opened successful 2013 and was renamed aft Laskin the pursuing year.

WATCH | Heritage Minute: Bora Laskin 

"It was a earthy prime to attack the [Laskin] household for a instrumentality schoolhouse that was established to beryllium innovative, to person a absorption that dealt with Indigenous law, assets law, tiny practice, rural, the types of things and innovation that Laskin himself was known for," Beaulieu said.

"All of these things bash resonate successful our instrumentality school, the quality of however we attack law, the program, the innovation that our module bring to it, but besides the quality of the students we person successful our program."

Expert successful quality rights

After graduating from the Fort William Collegiate and Technical Institute, Laskin was accepted into the 2nd twelvemonth of the honour instrumentality undergraduate programme astatine the University of Toronto erstwhile helium was lone 17.

He received his BA and MA from determination earlier going connected to get his instrumentality grade from Osgoode Hall and a postgraduate grade successful law from Harvard University.

But it wasn't easy. Laskin's household archetypal arrived successful Fort William arsenic Russian Jewish immigrants who had faced important persecution backmost home. He contended with akin antisemitic attitudes erstwhile trying to find a occupation successful Toronto.

Eventually, helium secured teaching positions astatine some of his alma maters successful Toronto earlier being appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal and aboriginal the Supreme Court of Canada.

"He is 1 of the astir in-exhaustingly compelling figures of Canadian law," said Kerry Rittich, prof of law, women and sex studies and nationalist argumentation and governance astatine the University of Toronto, successful a quality merchandise issued Wednesday.

In the Supreme Court, "what helium stood retired wasn't conscionable the bulk decisions, it was besides the dissenting comments," Beaulieu said.

For example, erstwhile the tribunal upheld that Indigenous women would suffer their Indian presumption if they joined non-Indigenous men, "Laskin argued precise forcefully that this compounded radical discrimination, sex discrimination, and was a usurpation of basal tenets of quality rights — and this truly stood retired astatine the time."

Laskin was chancellor of Lakehead University from 1971 to 1980. Before becoming the instrumentality school's namesake, Lakehead's Faculty of Education Building was named aft him. He died successful 1984 astatine property 71.

His household members besides overcame adversity to marque a large impact. His member Saul Laskin was the archetypal politician of Thunder Bay erstwhile Fort William and Port Arthur were amalgamated successful 1970. 

Now, arsenic students travel to Thunder Bay to get their instrumentality degrees, Beaulieu said it's important for them to retrieve the contributions Bora Laskin made arsenic they look to found their ain ineligible careers.

"I deliberation it's a constituent of pride," helium said, "going to a instrumentality schoolhouse that is carrying connected successful the beliefs and the opinions and the attack of probably, immoderate would argue, 1 of the foremost experts this state has ever had successful presumption of quality rights."