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Harry Batshaw

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Harry Batshaw
Born(1902-10-14)14 October 1902
Died1984 (aged 81–82)
Known forJustice

Harry Batshaw (14 October 1902 – 1984) was a Canadian lawyer and a justice of the Quebec Superior Court. Justice Batshaw was the first Jew to be appointed to a superior court in Canada.[1]

Born in 1902 at Dubroŭna, Mogilev Governorate, Russian Empire (now Belarus),[2] Batshaw emigrated to Canada with his parents in 1904. He graduated from the McGill University Faculty of Law in 1924. After winning a scholarship, he did postgraduate work at the University of Grenoble and the Sorbonne. Returning to Montreal, he practiced law for 25 years. In 1940, he was appointed a King's Counsel. In 1950, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent appointed him to the Quebec Superior Court. He served until retiring in 1977.[3]

From 1931 to 1934, he was president of Canadian Young Judea, Canada's largest Zionist youth movement. From 1944 to 1950, he was head of the public relations committee of the Zionist Organization of Canada. He was president and founder of the Canadian Friends of the Alliance Israelite Universelle and was the Quebec Co-Chairman of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. In 1962, he was awarded the Medal of Merit by the Government of France. In 1976 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[4]

He was buried in Montreal's Shaar Hashomayim Congregation Cemetery.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee National Archives". Canadian Jewish Congress. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  2. ^ Simpson, Kieran (June 1983). Canadian Who's Who, 1983. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802046161.
  3. ^ a b "Service held for Judge Harry Batshaw, 83". Canadian Human Rights Commission. Archived from the original on 2010-05-10. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  4. ^ "Harry Batshaw fonds". Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  5. ^ Batshaw