2006 Fredericton Convocation
Bastarache, Michel
Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Orator: Turner, R. Steven
Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 2006
MICHEL BASTARACHE
to be Doctor of Laws
Three hundred and twenty-five years ago one Jean Bastarache left the Basque country to join the remarkable multicultural experiment that would become the Acadian peoples of North America. Today we honor the most distinguished of his many descendants – an individual whose service to his country has been profoundly shaped by his Acadian consciousness.
Michel Bastarache grew up in Moncton, where his father Joseph-Alfred was a physician and laboratory director at the Georges Dumont hospital. He went on to study at the University of Moncton and to take degrees in civil law from the University of Montreal, public law from the University of Nice, and common law from the University of Ottawa. Then, aided by his wife and long-term partner Yolande Martin, he launched himself upon a public career that in its range of achievement has few Canadian parallels.
The first stop was the University of Moncton. There another distinguished New Brunswicker, the late Fernand Landry, had, in the face of considerable opposition, just established a faculty of law, the francophone Canadians might have the opportunity to study the common law in an exclusively French language environment. In 1978 Michel Bastarache was appointed professor and later dean of that law school, and two close friends thereby inaugurating a flourishing tradition of Acadian legal training and scholarship. He is today the author of numerous articles and two major books, including his path-breaking, Language Rights in Canada, and is recognized as the leading international authority on the law of minority language rights.
The academic career of Mr. Justice Bastarache continued to unfold as associate dean of law at the University of Ottawa, but it was the courtroom, not the classroom, that ultimately beckoned him. He earned a reputation as an accomplished counsel in high-profile cases, including the Mahé case, which guaranteed French-speaking Albertans administrative control over their own schools. A committed federalist, he chaired the “yes” committee on the Charlottetown Accord Referendum, and he acted as Ottawa’s director general for Promotion of Official Languages. No stranger to the business world, he served as president and CEO of Assumption Life in Moncton and on the Boards of other Canadian firms. In 1995 his many achievements were recognized by an appointment to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, and in 1997 to the Supreme Court of Canada, where he is today the senior puisne justice. On the bench, in addition to evincing special concern for family law and the protection of the rights of children, he has written leading judgments in the fields of constitutional and administrative law. They have consolidated his reputation as a clear-thinking, hard-working, and courageous jurist, who does not run from his own opinions.
But say the name Michel Bastarache today, and one thinks first of the long struggle to realize the constitution’s guarantee of the equality of Canada’s official languages. In 1981 the so-called Barry-Bastarache Report, and in 1982 the Poirier-Bastarache Report, launched New Brunswick upon a series of reforms to its courts, educational system, and civil service that sought to realize in practice and promises of the Robichaud Equal Opportunities Program. On the bench of the high court, Mr. Justice Bastarache has continued to defend and organic concept of constitutional language rights, one ever-mindful that language rights “are woven tightly [into] the flesh and bone of the communities in which they operate.” Today, as our province’s language controversies fade into memory, all New Brunswickers can celebrate the insight of Mr. Justice Bastarache, that language rights are grounded in moral, not merely political considerations, and are about far more than effective communication. Rather, they serve the preservation of identity, tradition, and cultural inheritance. They are most treasured by those in whom the awareness of history and community lives most vividly, as in the distinguished jurist whom we honour today.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 4
MICHEL BASTARACHE
to be Doctor of Laws
Three hundred and twenty-five years ago one Jean Bastarache left the Basque country to join the remarkable multicultural experiment that would become the Acadian peoples of North America. Today we honor the most distinguished of his many descendants – an individual whose service to his country has been profoundly shaped by his Acadian consciousness.
Michel Bastarache grew up in Moncton, where his father Joseph-Alfred was a physician and laboratory director at the Georges Dumont hospital. He went on to study at the University of Moncton and to take degrees in civil law from the University of Montreal, public law from the University of Nice, and common law from the University of Ottawa. Then, aided by his wife and long-term partner Yolande Martin, he launched himself upon a public career that in its range of achievement has few Canadian parallels.
The first stop was the University of Moncton. There another distinguished New Brunswicker, the late Fernand Landry, had, in the face of considerable opposition, just established a faculty of law, the francophone Canadians might have the opportunity to study the common law in an exclusively French language environment. In 1978 Michel Bastarache was appointed professor and later dean of that law school, and two close friends thereby inaugurating a flourishing tradition of Acadian legal training and scholarship. He is today the author of numerous articles and two major books, including his path-breaking, Language Rights in Canada, and is recognized as the leading international authority on the law of minority language rights.
The academic career of Mr. Justice Bastarache continued to unfold as associate dean of law at the University of Ottawa, but it was the courtroom, not the classroom, that ultimately beckoned him. He earned a reputation as an accomplished counsel in high-profile cases, including the Mahé case, which guaranteed French-speaking Albertans administrative control over their own schools. A committed federalist, he chaired the “yes” committee on the Charlottetown Accord Referendum, and he acted as Ottawa’s director general for Promotion of Official Languages. No stranger to the business world, he served as president and CEO of Assumption Life in Moncton and on the Boards of other Canadian firms. In 1995 his many achievements were recognized by an appointment to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, and in 1997 to the Supreme Court of Canada, where he is today the senior puisne justice. On the bench, in addition to evincing special concern for family law and the protection of the rights of children, he has written leading judgments in the fields of constitutional and administrative law. They have consolidated his reputation as a clear-thinking, hard-working, and courageous jurist, who does not run from his own opinions.
But say the name Michel Bastarache today, and one thinks first of the long struggle to realize the constitution’s guarantee of the equality of Canada’s official languages. In 1981 the so-called Barry-Bastarache Report, and in 1982 the Poirier-Bastarache Report, launched New Brunswick upon a series of reforms to its courts, educational system, and civil service that sought to realize in practice and promises of the Robichaud Equal Opportunities Program. On the bench of the high court, Mr. Justice Bastarache has continued to defend and organic concept of constitutional language rights, one ever-mindful that language rights “are woven tightly [into] the flesh and bone of the communities in which they operate.” Today, as our province’s language controversies fade into memory, all New Brunswickers can celebrate the insight of Mr. Justice Bastarache, that language rights are grounded in moral, not merely political considerations, and are about far more than effective communication. Rather, they serve the preservation of identity, tradition, and cultural inheritance. They are most treasured by those in whom the awareness of history and community lives most vividly, as in the distinguished jurist whom we honour today.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 4
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