Clément Gascon (born September 5, 1960) is 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 ...

jurist, who was nominated to 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 ...

by Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

on June 3, 2014, and officially appointed the Court on June 9, 2014. He officially retired from the court on September 15, 2019. Born in 1960 to Dr. Bernard Gascon and Denyse Clément, Gascon graduated from

Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf () is a subsidized private, previously Jesuit French-language educational institution offering secondary school and college-level instruction in Quebec. It was originally a boys' school, became partially mixed in 1968 a ...

and

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. Gascon was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1982 and in addition to his legal practice (in business, labour and construction law) was also a lecturer at

Cégep de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu The Cégep Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu is a post-secondary education institution (cégep: College of General and Professional Education) located in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, province of Quebec, Canada. The enabling legislation is the ''General and Vo ...

, Université du Québec à Montreal,

and

Bar of Quebec The Bar of Quebec () is the regulatory body for the practice of advocates in the Canadian province of Quebec and one of two legal regulatory bodies in the province. It was founded on May 30, 1849, as the Bar of Lower Canada (). History The begi ...

. Prior to his Supreme Court appointment, Gascon served on the

Quebec Superior Court The Superior Court of Quebec () is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Quebec Court of Appeal. Jurisdictio ...

from 2002 to 2012, and the

Quebec Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Quebec (sometimes referred to as Quebec Court of Appeal or QCA; ) is the highest judicial court in Quebec, Canada. It hears cases in Quebec City and Montreal. History The court was created on May 30, 1849, as the Court ...

from 2012 to 2014. He was previously a lawyer for the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

law firm

Heenan Blaikie Heenan Blaikie LLP was a Canadian law firm. It practised in the areas of business, labour and employment, litigation, taxation, entertainment law and intellectual property law. The firm was founded in 1973 by Roy Heenan, Donald Johnston, and Pe ...

for 21 years. In June 2018, Gascon wrote for the majority of the court when it found that the

Canadian Human Rights Tribunal The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal () is an administrative tribunal established in 1977 through the '' Canadian Human Rights Act''. It is directly funded by the Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, fed ...

's determination that the

Indian Act The ''Indian Act'' () is a Canadian Act of Parliament that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. First passed in 1876 and still in force with amendments, it is the primary document that defines how t ...

did not violate the

Canadian Human Rights Act The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' () is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory practices based on a set of ...

was reasonable. Three concurring justices instead argued that this context was not due

judicial deference Judicial deference is the condition of a court yielding or submitting its judgment to that of another legitimate party, such as the executive branch in the case of national defense. It is most commonly found in countries, such as the United Kingd ...

and instead required review for correctness. On April 15, 2019, Gascon announced that he would be retiring effective September 15, 2019. On the evening of May 8, 2019, the

Ottawa Police Service The Ottawa Police Service (OPS; French: ''Service de police d'Ottawa'') is the municipal police service of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as well as most of the north east Ontario side of the National Capital Region. As of 2022, this police service ...

issued a notice asking for the public's help in locating Gascon, who had not been seen since early the same afternoon. Shortly afterwards, they announced that he had been located safely. Gascon later announced he had had a panic attack, related in part to his recent decision to retire early from the Court. Garcon was appointed to the Order of Canada in June 2023, with the rank of Companion.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gascon, Clement 1960 births Judges in Quebec Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Living people McGill University alumni McGill University Faculty of Law alumni People from Montreal 21st-century Canadian judges Academic staff of McGill University Academic staff of the Université du Québec à Montréal Companions of the Order of Canada

See also

References

External links