The Honourable Gerald Eric Le Dain

Gerald Eric Le Dain was born in Montreal, Quebec, on November 27, 1924. He is the son of Eric George Bryant Le Dain and Antoinette Louise Whithard. In 1943 he went overseas with the armed forces to serve in the Second World War. After returning to Canada in 1946, he enrolled at McGill University and obtained a B.C.L. degree in 1949. That year, he was called to the bar of Quebec. He pursued his studies in France, at the University of Lyon, and became a Docteur de l'Université in 1950. He first practised law with Walker, Martineau, Chauvin, Walker & Allison in Montreal. From 1953 to 1959, and in 1966 and 1967, he taught law at McGill University. He became dean of Osgoode Hall Law School in 1967 and was called to the bar of Ontario the following year. From 1969 to 1973, he chaired the Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs. Two years later, he was appointed to the Federal Court of Appeal and the Court Martial Appeal Court. He was elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada on May 29, 1984. Justice Le Dain served on the Supreme Court for four years and retired on November 30, 1988. Justice Le Dain died on December 18, 2007, at the age of 83.