Obituary: Mary Dawson’s outstanding public regulation legacy

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Reflecting on her monumental profession within the federal Division of Justice, Mary Dawson as soon as mentioned that “issues appeared to have fallen into my palms through the years.”

It was typical of her calm understatement.

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A trailblazing lawyer, constitutional knowledgeable and authorized wordsmith, Dawson held the pen on the ultimate draft of the Structure Act, 1982, the legislative bundle that included the Canadian Constitution of Rights and Freedoms. She additionally drafted the Readability Act, the Canada Well being Act, the Younger Offenders Act, the Entry to Data Act, the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord.

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Dawson managed the federal government’s Supreme Courtroom reference case on same-sex marriage and performed a key function in drafting the following laws.

Former Justice Minister Irwin Cotler mentioned her legacy within the subject of public regulation was “virtually unmatched” in Canada.

“We’re residing now within the age of the Constitution, and Mary Dawson was instrumental in that,” Cotler mentioned in an interview. “She had an abiding curiosity within the public good, and he or she introduced a substantive experience to her work.”

Dawson, who got here out of retirement to function Canada’s first federal ethics commissioner, died Dec. 24 in The Ottawa Hospital, one month after being recognized with a uncommon type of thyroid most cancers.

She was 81.

Emily Sharples, considered one of Dawson’s two kids, mentioned her mom “completely beloved language.”

“She was so gifted at slicing by the litter: She was not verbose like a number of legal professionals,” Sharples mentioned. “She may put issues merely and succinctly.”

Mary Dawson was born June 23, 1942, in Halifax, moved to Toronto on the age of 11 and went to highschool in Montreal, however at all times outlined herself as a Maritimer. Her father labored for the SImpsons division retailer, whereas her mom, a trainer, held a college diploma in house economics.

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Dawson studied philosophy at McGill College earlier than deciding on a profession in regulation. She graduated from McGill with a civil regulation diploma in 1966 and 4 years later accomplished a typical regulation diploma at Dalhousie College. However she was not sure what to do subsequent.

A few of her professors urged her to pursue a profession in legislative drafting. Dawson initially thought it sounded “intensely boring.”

“The individuals I spoke to satisfied me that drafting is about understanding and growing coverage, and with the ability to put a doc collectively in a smart approach, and isn’t almost as boring because it sounds,” she advised an interviewer from the McGill Legislation Journal.

Consequently, Dawson joined the justice division’s legislative part in 1970, one 12 months after marrying Peter Dawson, an English-born engineer and artist. She was one of many few feminine legal professionals within the division on the time and would develop into the primary justice division lawyer to take maternity go away in 1973.

After proving her mettle as a consultant drafter of laws, Dawson took on a management function in September 1980, when she was named affiliate chief legislative counsel.

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It thrust Dawson into the centre of Canada’s roiling constitutional debate. Quebec had held its first referendum on sovereignty in Might 1980 and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, lately returned to workplace, was decided to forge forward with constitutional change, even when it meant appearing with out provincial assist.

Following particular committee hearings, and primarily based on ministerial path, Dawson revised and edited a draft of the nation’s constitutional bundle.

Utilizing her editorial judgment, Dawson eliminated all pronouns from the doc. It had been customized earlier than then to make use of ‘he’ as a pronoun to cowl each women and men. To keep away from the formulation, Dawson repeated the noun or restructured the sentence.

“This was completed pretty simply,” she later advised a Montreal viewers, “though there are a number of provisions within the Constitution that will look somewhat strained.”

The brand new constitutional bundle was tabled in February 1981. Later that 12 months, in November, a high-stakes first ministers convention was convened in Ottawa in an try and hammer out a constitutional deal acceptable to the provinces.

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For 2 days, Dawson sat in a small room on the fifth ground of the Authorities of Canada Convention Centre, ready to draft amendments primarily based on political choices being solid under. For 2 days, she had nothing to do.

Late on the afternoon on Nov. 4, she was requested to draft a sequence of amendments and labored by the evening to complete them. She went house at 8 a.m., ate, showered and returned to the workplace, the place she found her draft was already outdated. An entire new proposal needed to be drafted primarily based on the “Kitchen Accord,” a gathering between Justice Minister Jean Chrétien, Saskatchewan Legal professional Normal Roy Romanow and Ontario Legal professional Normal Roy McMurtry.

Dawson used a typewriter to arrange the draft on legal-sized paper. Adjustments had been made by taping strips of paper with the brand new wording over the previous provisions.

“Typically, pages bought fairly thick till we may not work with them, at which level a brand new web page was created,” Dawson mentioned.

The settlement reached with 9 provinces — Quebec’s René Lévesque was the one premier to not signal — paved the best way for the repatriation of Canada’s Structure from Britain.

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Dawson thought of it the proudest second of her profession.

In 1986, Dawson was appointed assistant deputy minister in public regulation, making her the lead authorized advisor on all constitutional issues, a place she would maintain till her retirement. In 1987, she drafted the textual content for the Meech Lake settlement and was devastated when the proposal so as to add Quebec’s consent to the structure failed.

“I assumed Meech was an important repair and a extremely easy repair,” she mentioned in a 2005 interview.

In Might 2007, two years after she reluctantly retired, Dawson was named a Member of the Order of Canada for her “distinctive and integral function” within the improvement of constitutional regulation and coverage in Canada. “Identified for her integrity, intelligence and selfless service, she has been a task mannequin to a era of younger legal professionals and public servants,” her quotation learn.

Later that very same 12 months, Dawson was appointed as Canada’s first Battle of Curiosity and Ethics Commissioner. Whereas commissioner, she went by breast most cancers therapy (she would put on a wig throughout public appearances), and remained in her job for 11 years. As considered one of her closing acts in authorities, she issued a ruling discovering that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated authorities battle of curiosity guidelines by vacationing on the Aga Khan’s personal island within the Bahamas.

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Emily Sharples mentioned her mom confronted sexism in her profession. One lawyer advised her, “There’s no place for girls within the courtroom,” whereas one other mentioned throughout an articling interview that the agency already had “our lady.” None of that fazed Dawson.

“It was by no means her intention to be a trailblazer. She simply preferred to go in and do an exceptionally good job,” Sharples mentioned. “My mom was extremely completed, but in addition extremely modest.”

As a toddler, Sharples mentioned, she solely realized her mom was vital when somebody posted a newspaper clipping on her college’s present occasions board throughout the Meech Lake drama. Her mom was within the image, standing proper behind the prime minister.

“That was the primary time I had any sense of it as a result of she was at all times there as a mother,” Sharples remembered. “She got here to utterly every part.”

Mary Dawson preferred to skate and cross-country ski, she beloved theatre and he or she was a part of the identical e book membership for many years. She served on the board of administrators at The Ottawa Hospital and Perley Well being, amongst others.

After growing well being issues in September, Dawson was recognized in November with an aggressive type of thyroid most cancers and declined quickly. In hospital, her daughter mentioned, she was upset that she couldn’t be productive anymore.

“You’re OK, Mother. You’ve finished rather a lot,” her daughter advised her.

Dawson paused. “I suppose I’ve finished some issues,” she mentioned.

Andrew Duffy is a Nationwide Newspaper Award-winning reporter and long-form function author primarily based in Ottawa. To assist his work, together with unique content material for subscribers solely, enroll right here: 

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