Sheldon Mervin Chumir (December 3, 1940 – January 26, 1992) was a lawyer and politician from

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Sheldon Chumir was born in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

to a

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family. He studied law at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

, from which he graduated in 1963 with the gold medal.Cotler, Irwin. ''The New Human Rights Agenda:The First Sheldon Chumir Lecture''. Centre for Constitutional Studies/Centre d'etudes Constitutionnelles, 'Constitutional Forum Constitutionel' Vol.6 Number 2, Winter 1995, p. 43. http://ualawccsprod.srv.ualberta.ca/ccs/images/journals/forum/1-ConstitutionalForum6_2.pdf He continued his education as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

and earned a

Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second bachelor's degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been touched on in ...

degree from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1965.

Law, business career and political activism

Chumir began his professional career as a tax lawyer with the federal Department of Justice in

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. In 1971, he joined a Calgary law firm. In 1976, he launched his own private practice focusing on civil liberties cases which on occasion provided representation on a

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

basis. He lectured on civil liberties and human rights at the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

Law School A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

and founded the Calgary Civil Liberties Association. He was also an entrepreneur; he founded a small oil and gas company, co-founded the entertainment promotion firm Brimstone Productions and engaged in real estate. In 1983, he ventured into activism by creating Save Public Education, an organization which opposed public funding of religious schools.Sheldon Chumir fonds
The Glenbow Museum. Retrieved August 29, 2013. The group ran a successful slate of candidates in a Calgary Board of Education election.

Political career

In the

1986 Alberta general election The 1986 Alberta general election was held on May 8, 1986, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Peter Lougheed, who had created the modern Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Alberta Progressive Conservatives, ...

, he ran as a Liberal in the riding of

Calgary-Buffalo Calgary-Buffalo is a current provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method o ...

and defeated incumbent Brian Lee of the Progressive Conservative Party. He was among the first four Liberals elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post f ...

since 1969. In the Assembly, he advocated on legal affairs, human rights, energy, finance and community service, and he advocated legislation that supported human rights and civil liberties. He was re-elected in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Death and legacy

Chumir died in 1992, from cancer. Having no close kin, he had set up his estate to establish the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics Leadership. As a politician and human rights lawyer Chumir was an advocate for human rights and believed ethical values are fundamental to a healthy society. The foundation was intended to advocate for leadership and legislature to further the advancement of democratic legislation and social reform. The foundation offers internships and scholarships for students studying the field of Leadership and Law, publishes material pertaining to civil rights, and supports initiatives in the community. The Sheldon M. Chumir Centre, an eight-story medical facility named in honor of Chumir, opened in Calgary in April 2008. The facility includes an Urgent Care Centre, Mental Health clinic, Diagnostic Imaging department and the Southern Alberta HIV Clinic. Chumir was called one of Alberta's New Mavericks by Jamie Komarnicki of the ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'', who in Chumir's obituary described him as a "soft-spoken man with a quirky sense of humour howas a determined champion of public education and individual freedoms." In 2012, Chumir was posthumously honored by the Calgary Stampede Foundation with the centennial edition of the Western Legacy Award. This unique edition award recognized contributions of 100 Calgarians and their services to Calgary.

References

External links

Sheldon Chumir Ethics Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chumir, Sheldon 1940 births 1992 deaths Academic staff of the University of Calgary Alberta Liberal Party MLAs Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Canadian civil rights lawyers Canadian Rhodes Scholars Deaths from cancer in Alberta Human rights lawyers Jewish Canadian politicians Lawyers in Alberta Tax lawyers University of Alberta alumni 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta