Morris A. Gross Lecture 2003

The Hon. R. Roy McMurtry, Chief Justice of Ontario:
The Creation of the Charter of Rights: A Personal Memoir

On March 13th, the Faculty of Law welcomed the Hon. Roy McMurtry, Chief Justice of Ontario, as the 2003 presenter of the Morris A. Gross Memorial Lecture, established in memory of the late Morris A. Gross (Class of ’49) by the law firm Minden, Gross, Grafstein & Greenstein and by members of his family, friends and professional associates.

McMurtry has long been at the centre of important constitutional events in Canada, including his famous participation in the negotiations and the Supreme Court reference case leading up to the patriation of the BNA Act and its proclamation as Canada’s constitution in 1982.

In his informative hour long lecture, McMurtry recalled the late 1970s and early 1980s - years when he was Ontario’s attorney general - with an acute historical sense, and an insider’s knowledge of detail. Though controversial at the time and since, McMurtry expressed “no regrets about decisions pertaining to the constitution and the charter of rights,” although his “disappointment” remains over the fact of Quebec’s opting out.

McMurtry’s lecture ended with a lively question and answer session during which he recounted how in politics things rarely turn out the way you might think beforehand. “Big Roy, keep your head up,” is how Jean Chretien laughingly greeted McMurtry during a conference call shortly after the Mulroney Tories defeated the Liberals and swept to power in 1984. To those assembled for this year’s Gross Lecture, Chief Justice McMurtry’s presence was evidence that he had done so.