Nationality Canadian Books Welfare: hidden backlash Role Lawyer | Name Morris Shumiatcher Spouse(s) Jacqueline Shumiatcher | |
 | ||
Born September 20, 1917 ( 1917-09-20 ) Calgary, Alberta Alma mater University of Alberta
University of Toronto Occupation Barrister and solicitor, provincial civil servant Known for human rights and civil liberties, law practice, art collection Died September 23, 2004, Regina, Canada Education University of Toronto, University of Alberta Awards Order of Canada, Saskatchewan Order of Merit | ||
Morris Cyril "Shumy" Shumiatcher, (September 20, 1917 – September 23, 2004) was a Canadian lawyer best known for his contribution to the field of human rights and civil liberties.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, a son to Luba Lubinsky and Abraham Shumiatcher (1890–1974), he received a BA in 1940 and a LL.B in 1941 from the University of Alberta. He received his LL.M in 1942 from the University of Toronto. From 1943 to 1945, he served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as an air gunner. After the war, he received his PhD (as distinguished from the undergraduate degree J.D. or Doctor of Jurisprudence currently offered by the University of Toronto) from the University of Toronto.
In 1946, he moved to Regina, Saskatchewan at the invitation of Tommy Douglas to become law officer of the Attorney General. He soon became the personal assistant to Douglas. In 1948, he was appointed the youngest King's Counsel in the Commonwealth of Nations, in order to argue a case before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, United Kingdom. His law office was in an independent building south of the Hotel Saskatchewan on Scarth Street; his wife Jacqueline Shumiatcher, whom he married in 1955, was a high school teacher at Sacred Heart Academy on 13th Avenue. Their ample house on College Avenue across street from Regina College was amply decorated with locally produced paintings, many of which were later donated to Mackenzie Art Gallery, originally adjacent to Regina College and later relocated in the T.C. Douglas Building at the western eastern end of Wascana Centre.
He was the author of the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights, the model for the Canadian Bill of Rights. It was the first Bill of rights in Canada and was one year before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 1949, he left government to practise private law and appeared in his practice many times before the Supreme Court of Canada.
For 14 years he was an honorary consul general for Japan and Dean of the Consular Corps for Saskatchewan.
He authored Welfare: Hidden Backlash in 1971 and Man of Law: A Model in 1979.
In 1981, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1996, he was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.
In June 2017, the Governor General of Canada announced that Dr. Morris Shumiatcher's widow, Jacqui Shumiatcher, was awarded the Order of Canada “for her devotion to her community and for her transformative philanthropy, which have re-vitalized Saskatchewan's arts and culture scene." Included among the recipients was Prince Charles. Jacqui Shumiatcher was one of only three from Saskatchewan to receive the honor.She has donated millions, according to a profile of her, “Patron of the Arts Believes in Sharing the Wealth,” in the Regina Leader-Post.