Francis Andrew Brewin (1907–1983) was a lawyer and Canadian politician and Member of Parliament. He was the grandson of

Andrew George Blair Andrew George Blair (March 7, 1844 – January 25, 1907) was a Canadian politician in New Brunswick, Canada. He served as the seventh premier of New Brunswick for 13 years and 136 days, the second-longest tenure in the province's history, behin ...

a Liberal cabinet minister who was also the

Premier of New Brunswick The premier of New Brunswick ( (masculine) or (feminine)) is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The premier of a Canadian province is much like the prime minister of Canada. They are normally ...

. His son John Brewin also served in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

Biography

Born on 3 September 1907 in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England, Brewin was a stalwart in the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

(CCF) and ran numerous times at the federal and provincial levels in the 1940 and 1950s. As a lawyer in the 1940s, he was retained by the Co-operative Committee on Japanese Canadians to contest the federal government's deportation orders affecting thousands of Japanese Canadians. Led by Brewin, the " Japanese Canadian Reference Case" was heard 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 ...

and later, on appeal, by the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August ...

. Brewin was also retained by a committee of

Japanese Canadian are Canadians, Canadian citizens of Japanese people, Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of Japanese Canadians in British Columbia, British Columbia, which hosts the largest ...

s who had been detained during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as "enemy aliens" in order to try to have their property restored. He succeeded in persuading the government to call a

royal commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

to investigate the question. In 1945, he was asked by Ontario CCF leader

Ted Jolliffe Edward Bigelow Jolliffe (March 2, 1909 – March 18, 1998) was a Canadian social democratic politician and lawyer from Ontario. He was the first leader of the Ontario section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario Section), Co ...

to be co-counsel during the infamous LeBel Royal Commission that was looking into whether or not Ontario's premier at the time was employing a secret political police force. He was, for a time, the President of the Ontario CCF and was a candidate for the leadership of the Ontario CCF at the party's 1953

leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Politics of Canada, Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leadership, leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, ...

, but lost to

Donald C. MacDonald Donald Cameron MacDonald (December 7, 1913 – March 8, 2008) was a Canadians, Canadian politician. Referred to in the media as the "best Premier of Ontario, premier Ontario never had," he represented the provincial riding of York South ( ...

. Brewin stood as a CCF candidate several times, starting with the

1945 Canadian federal election The 1945 Canadian federal election was held on June 11, 1945, to elect members of the House of Commons of the 20th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberals won a third term. The party fell five seats short of ...

in the riding of St. Paul's, but was unsuccessful. He was first elected to the

on behalf of the CCF's successor, the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

. Brewin sat as Member of Parliament for the

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 ...

riding of Greenwood from the 1962 election until his retirement in 1979. Coming from the theological tradition of figures such as

Richard Hooker Richard Hooker (25 March 1554 – 2 November 1600) was an English priest in the Church of England and an influential theologian.''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' by F. L. Cross (Editor), E. A. Livingstone (Editor) Oxford Univer ...

, F. D. Maurice, and William Temple, Andrew Brewin considered himself a

Christian socialist A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Chr ...

and wrote a number of books and pamphlets on the topic. He was a member of the Fellowship for a Christian Social Order and the

League for Social Reconstruction The League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) was a circle of Canadian socialists officially formed in 1932. The group advocated for social and economic reformation as well as political education. The formation of the LSR was provoked by events suc ...

. Andrew Brewin wrote the book ''Stand on Guard: The Search for a Canadian Defence Policy'', published by McClelland & Stewart in 1965, that explored Canada's military's changing role in the mid-twentieth century, including its participation in the then new concept of United Nations peacekeeping. His son John Brewin later served in Parliament. He also had four daughters: Margaret Wilbur; Martha Hynna, who served as secretary general of the Canadian Human Rights Commission; Mary Lewis, who served as chief mission and research officer of the Heart and Stroke Foundation; and Jane Morley, QC, who served as child and youth officer for British Columbia. Brewin died on 21 September 1983.

Electoral record

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

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External links

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Francis Andrew Brewin fonds
at Library and Archives Canada {{DEFAULTSORT:Brewin, Andrew 1907 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Anglicans 20th-century Canadian lawyers Anglican socialists Canadian Anglicans Canadian Christian socialists Canadian people of English descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian King's Counsel Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Ontario) Lawyers in Ontario Litigators Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons New Democratic Party MPs Canadian democratic socialists Osgoode Hall Law School alumni People educated at Radley College Politicians from Brighton Politicians from Toronto Co-operative Commonwealth Federation candidates for the Canadian House of Commons 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada