Marc Nadon

Early life and family

Marc Nadon was born in St-Jérôme, Québec, on September 7, 1949. His father played professional hockey with the American Hockey League in the 1940s as well as being a businessman. His mother was of Ukrainian background, whose parents immigrated to Canada from Ukraine during World War I. She was a professional singer, including singing at the Château Frontenac during the big band era. Nadon's father spoke French and English, but his mother spoke Ukrainian and English. His first language was English, but his education was entirely in French-speaking educational institutions.

As a youth, it was his dream to become a professional hockey player and he played midget hockey in his hometown. He later appeared with the Junior A Laval Saints. However, his father forced him to choose whether he would continue to pursue a career in professional hockey or instead pursue a traditional career path. Nadon chose his studies, though later claimed that he had turned down a draft offer from the Detroit Red Wings. In 2013 it was reported that while Nadon was not actually drafted by the Detroit Red Wings, he did play with the Saint-Jérôme Alouettes - a Junior A team whose midget affiliates were part of the Red Wings’ farm team network.

Nadon studied at Collège Lionel-Groulx and obtained his diploma of collegiate studies (D.E.C.) in 1970. In 1973, he earned his Licentiate in Laws (LL.L.) from the Université de Sherbrooke.

Nadon has been married for over thirty years to Margaret Buchan, a Scotswoman from the town of Peebles, Scotland. They have a son, Marc-André, who is also a lawyer and who practises with his father's old firm, Fasken Martineau Dumoulin.

Legal career

Nadon was admitted to the Barreau du Québec in 1974 and practiced law until 1993 at the firm of Martineau Walker (known today as Fasken Martineau DuMoulin), where he became a partner in 1981. From 1988 to 1990, he worked in England at the firm’s London office. His practice essentially involved maritime law and transportation law. He taught maritime law and transportation law at the faculty of law at the Université de Sherbrooke from 1987 to 1992. He primarily wrote about maritime law. In addition to this, he has worked in the fields of insurance and commercial law, particularly in matters regarding letters of credit and letters of exchange.

As a result of his maritime law practice, he often appeared before the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal. He also appeared before the Superior Court of Québec, and on occasion before the Court of Appeal of Québec and the Supreme Court of Canada.

As a lawyer, Nadon also gained experience in the field of arbitration, specifically as arbitrator and member of the American Arbitration Association. He sat on several occasions as an arbitrator of maritime law disputes and was given terms as ad hoc arbitrator, in particular in litigation. He led arbitration in London and New York on behalf of clients in Canada and abroad.

Throughout his years of practice, he was a member of the Canadian Bar Association and a member of the Canadian Maritime Law Association.

Judicial career

Nadon was appointed as a judge to the Federal Court of Canada – Trial Division, and ex officio a member of the Appeal Division of that Court on June 10, 1993. On April 14, 1994, he was appointed as a judge to the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada. He was appointed as a member of the Competition Tribunal on December 16, 1998, for a term of seven years. On December 14, 2001, he was appointed as a judge to the Federal Court of Canada – Appeal Division (now the Federal Court of Appeal), and ex officio a member of the Trial Division of that Court. He became a supernumerary judge on July 25, 2011.

Nadon was a member of the Federal Courts Rules Committee for a number of years. He was also the Chair of the Education Committee of the Federal Court of Appeal and a member of the Court’s Law Clerks Committee.

Unsuccessful appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada

Nadon was nominated by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to be a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was formally appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on October 3, 2013, and sworn in on October 7, 2013. Following controversy regarding his appointment, he stated that he would not hear cases until the legal challenge to his appointment was decided. His appointment was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Reference re Supreme Court Act, ss. 5 and 6 on March 21, 2014. By a 6-1 margin, the Court found that he did not meet the requirement of s. 6 of the Supreme Court Act, which requires that Quebec appointments to the Court be either a sitting judge on the Quebec Court of Appeal or Superior Court, or a current member of the Barreau du Québec. As a result, the Court ruled that his appointment had never taken effect and he remained a supernumerary judge of the Federal Court of Appeal.