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Robert Taschereau

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Robert Taschereau
Robert Taschereau, c.1915
11th Chief Justice of Canada
In office
April 22, 1963 – September 1, 1967
Nominated byJohn Diefenbaker
Appointed byGeorges Vanier
Preceded byPatrick Kerwin
Succeeded byJohn Robert Cartwright
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
In office
February 9, 1940 – April 22, 1963
Nominated byWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King
Preceded byLawrence Cannon
Succeeded byWishart Spence
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Bellechasse
In office
1930–1936
Preceded byAntonin Galipeault
Succeeded byÉmile Boiteau
Personal details
Born(1896-09-10)September 10, 1896
Quebec City, Quebec
DiedJuly 26, 1970(1970-07-26) (aged 73)
Montreal, Quebec
Political partyLiberal
Spouse
Ellen Donohue
(m. 1926)
Alma materUniversité Laval

Robert Taschereau PC CC (September 10, 1896 – July 26, 1970) was a lawyer who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Canada from 1963 to 1967, as a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1940 to 1963, and briefly as the Administrator of the Government of Canada for one month from March to April 1967 following the death of Governor General of Canada Georges Vanier.

Biography

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He was born in Quebec City in 1896 to Louis-Alexandre Taschereau and Adine Dionne. He came from a family of politicians and lawyers; his father later became Premier of Quebec and his grandfather, Jean-Thomas Taschereau, was on the Supreme Court of Canada. He studied at Laval University and obtained a B.A. degree in 1916 and LL.L. in 1920.[1]

Following a career as a lawyer, Taschereau entered politics as a Liberal and won a seat in the Quebec National Assembly in 1930. He held his seat of the riding of Bellechasse until retiring in 1936.[citation needed]

Supreme Court Judge

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On February 9, 1940, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, filling the vacancy created by the death of his former law partner, Lawrence Cannon.[citation needed]

In 1946, he and fellow Justice Roy Kellock conducted the Royal Commission on Spying Activities in Canada that had been prompted by the Gouzenko Affair.[citation needed]

Taschereau was promoted to Chief Justice in 1963.[citation needed]

Under the Letters Patent, 1947, the Chief Justice of Canada serves as the Administrator of the Government of Canada in the death, absence or incapacity of the Governor General of Canada.[2] Taschereau served as Administrator from the death of Governor General Georges Vanier on March 5, 1967 until April 17, 1967 when the Queen appointed Roland Michener as the new governor general, on the advice of Prime Minister Lester Pearson.[3]

Personal

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Taschereau was married to Ellen Donohue, daughter of Joseph Timothy Donohue (co-founder of Donohue Inc.) and Émilie Normandin.[citation needed]

Retirement and honours

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Taschereau remained on the Supreme Court until retiring in 1967.[citation needed]

In 1967 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.[citation needed]

Robert Taschereau died in 1970 at the age of 73, and was interred in the family plot at the Cimetière Notre-Dame-de-Belmont in Sainte-Foy, Quebec.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.
  2. ^ Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor General of Canada, October 1, 1947.
  3. ^ Governor General of Canada: Former Governors General.
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Political offices
Preceded by Administrator of the Government of Canada
1966–1967
Succeeded by