Allan McEachern (May 20, 1926 – January 10, 2008) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

lawyer, a judge, and a

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

Personal

McEachern's first wife, Gloria, died in 1997 after 44 years of marriage. Two years later, he married Appeal Court Justice Mary Newbury.

Education

McEachern graduated from the

with a Bachelor of Arts in 1949, followed by a law degree in 1950.

Career

McEachern became UBC's 16th chancellor in 2002. He graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Arts in 1949, a law degree in 1950 and was given an honorary doctor of Laws degree in 1990. McEachern practiced law with the leading Vancouver law firm of Russell and DuMoulin for 28 years after being called to the bar in 1951. He became Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of British Columbia The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the superior trial court for the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Court hears civil and criminal law cases as well as appeals from the Provincial Court of British Columbia. There are 90 judici ...

in 1979. In 1988. he was appointed Chief Justice of the

British Columbia Court of Appeal The British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) is the highest appellate court in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1910 following the 1907 Court of Appeal Act. Jurisdiction The ...

. McEachern retired from that position in May 2001. Later that year he returned to the practice of law at his former firm, now called Fasken Martineau DuMoulin. His career as Chief Justice in both courts was distinguished by his reform of court procedure and for bringing the Canadian legal system closer to the public by being the first judge in Canada to host his own web site, which invited the public to e-mail their questions about the legal system. In addition, he chaired the Legal Aid Society from 1975 to 1976 and served from 1996 to 2001 as vice-chair of the Canadian Judicial Council, the body responsible for dealing with issues relating to the performance of federally appointed judges in Canada. McEachern also served as a Director of the Vancouver Bar Association, President of the Legal Aid Society, Bencher of the Law Society and a member of the Council of the Canadian Bar Association, President of the B.C. Lions (1967–69), President of the Canadian Football League, the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

commissioner of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

and Ethics Commissioner for VANOC. McEachern's career was not without controversy. B. Douglas Cox described McEachern's judgement in the 1991 Gitskan-West'suwet'en land claim case ''Delgamuukw et al. v. The Queen'' as "a stunning disappointment." In the judgement, McEachern commented that "it would not be accurate to assume that even pre-contact existence in the territory was in the least bit idyllic. The plaintiffs' ancestors had no written language, no horses or wheeled vehicles, slavery and starvation was not uncommon, wars with neighbouring peoples were common, and there is no doubt, to quote Hobbes, that aboriginal life in the territory was, at best, 'nasty, brutish and short.'" This characterization is still subject to significant criticism. McEachern's decision was overturned by the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

in ''Delgamuukw v. British Columbia.''

Recognition

He was granted an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the

in 1990. He was a Life Bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia.

Achievements

In addition to his many judicial decisions, during his tenure as Chief Justice of both courts, McEachern is credited with streamlining the procedures of the courts, introducing online access to decisions of the court and establishing a website that allowed internet visitors to ask questions directly of the court. He wrote and published a Compendium of Law and Judges.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McEachern, Allan 1926 births 2008 deaths Lawyers in British Columbia Judges in British Columbia Chancellors of the University of British Columbia University of British Columbia alumni Canadian Football League commissioners Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni