Alfred Alan Borovoy, (March 17, 1932 – May 11, 2015) was a Canadian lawyer and human rights activist best known as the longtime general counsel of the
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA; ) is a nonprofit organization in Canada devoted to the defence of civil liberties and constitutional rights.Dominique ClementCase Study: Canadian Civil Liberties Association Page accessed Feb 13, 20 ...
(CCLA).
[CCLA biography]
Born in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
, Borovoy's family owned a drug store that went out of business during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
forcing the family to move in with Borovoy's grandparents who lived on Grace Street, then a working-class neighbourhood in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
's west end.
He was raised as a child in the 1930s and '40s in Toronto where anti-Semitism was commonplace
eference to support this needed Borovoy was on the community relations committee of the
Canadian Jewish Congress
The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC; ; ; ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for Hum ...
from 1951 until 2011. His activities in 1963 resulted to the formation of
Halifax Advisory Committee on Human Rights where he continued his fight against
racial discrimination
Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their Race (human categorization), race, ancestry, ethnicity, ethnic or national origin, and/or Human skin color, skin color and Hair, hair texture. Individuals ...
.
He received a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in 1953 and a
Bachelor of Laws
A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
in 1956 from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
. He has been awarded four honorary doctorates. He was admitted to the
Ontario Bar in 1958.
[ In 1960, Borovoy started working as secretary of the ]Jewish Labour Committee
The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) is an American secular Jewish labor organization founded in 1934 to oppose the rise of Nazism in Germany. Among its central purposes is promoting labor union interests in the organized Jewish communities, especi ...
in Toronto fighting racism against minority groups in Toronto, particularly Black Canadians
Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent.
Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...
. He was also active with organizations such as the National Committee for Human Rights of the Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC ( or ), is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian trade union, labour unions are affiliated.
History Formation
The CLC was founded on April 23, 1956, thro ...
, the Ontario Labour Committee for Human Rights, and the Toronto & District Labour Committee for Human Rights.[ In the 1963 Ontario provincial election, Borovoy was the ]New Democratic Party of Ontario
The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP; , NPD) is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is Ontario’s provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. The ...
's candidate in the Toronto riding of Downsview
Downsview is a neighbourhood in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. The area takes its name from the Downs View farm established around 1842 near the present-day intersection of Keele Street and Wils ...
, coming in second with 35% of the vote.
In 1968, Borovoy became General Counsel for the CCLA, a position he held until his retirement on 1 July 2009. He then became CCLA's General Counsel Emeritus. During his tenure he was one of the main advocates for the development of the Canadian Human Rights Commission
The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) was established in 1977 by the Government of Canada. It is empowered under the '' Canadian Human Rights Act'' to investigate and to try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the ...
and the Ontario Human Rights Commission
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) was established in the Canadian province of Ontario on March 29, 1961, to administer the Ontario Human Rights Code. The OHRC is an arm's length agency of government accountable to the legislature throug ...
, both of which ensure delivery of services and accommodation free from discrimination. Borovoy later believed that "extremists among equality seekers" are dangerous to liberal values by using hate speech laws and human rights commissions to censor their adversaries.
Borovoy was a visiting professor at Dalhousie University's law school and the University of Windsor
The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...
's law school and also lectured part-time at the University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
's Faculty of Social Work and York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
's political science department.[
When Israel Apartheid Week advocates complained in 2009 about the administration at ]Carleton University
Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...
removing their posters,
Borovoy defended the activists. "We are talking about the right to castigate the behaviour of ... foreign governments," he said at the time. "Universities are supposed to be a storm centre of controversy and debate."
He was the author of ''The New Anti-Liberals, Uncivil Obedience: The Tactics and Tales of a Democratic Agitator'' and ''When Freedoms Collide: The Case for Our Civil Liberties'', which was nominated for the 1988 Governor General's Awards. His book, ''Categorically Incorrect: Ethical fallacies in Canada's war on terror'' was released in early 2007.[
Borovoy wrote a biweekly column for the '']Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
'' from 1992 to 1996.
The publication of his memoir ''At the Barricades'' came in 2014. Therein, Borovoy describes his 'pragmatic' view of human nature, the inevitability of conflict in making progressive social change, and the sacrifices he made for career over family.
"I was a social democrat, a civil libertarian, a secular Jew, and a philosophical pragmatist," Borovoy wrote, a skeptical egalitarian, but "an unequivocal anti-Communist and perhaps even a Cold War hawk."
In 1982, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
. He died in 2015.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borovoy, Alan
1932 births
2015 deaths
Jewish Canadian non-fiction writers
Lawyers in Ontario
Canadian political writers
Officers of the Order of Canada
University of Toronto alumni
Canadian civil rights lawyers
New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
Writers from Hamilton, Ontario