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Memoirs and Reflections
2013 
by The Hon. R. Roy McMurtry, published with the University of Toronto Press.
In addition to his most important accomplishment, the founding of the Osgoode Society, Roy McMurtry recounts and reflects on his years as a criminal defence lawyer, attorney-general of Ontario, High Commissioner to the UK, and Chief Justice of Ontario. Along the way we are given insights into the patriation of the Constitution, the end of apartheid in South Africa, the Dubin Inquiry, and many other events. This book is a great read, a modern legal history of Canada and Ontario, and a tale of a life well lived.
Contents
Contents
FOREWORD xi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xiii
Part One: Getting Established
1 The McMurtry Family Tree 3
2 School and Sports 17
3 Student Days at the University of Toronto 31
4 Preparing for a Career in Law at Osgoode Hall 48
5 Articling Student 61
Part Two: The Practice of Law
6 Early Law Career 73
7 Mentor, Arthur Maloney 89
8 Entering the Political Arena 117
9 Family Life 135
10 Member of the Kitchen Cabinet 145
11 The By-election, Community Service, and the Law 156
Part Three: Attorney General of Ontario
12 Stepping in the Attorney General’s Role 175
13 Cabinet Minister with a Law Reform Agenda 193
14 Attorney General versus the National Hockey League 213
15 Racism and Religion 227
16 Violence on the Highways, on the Newsstands, and as Entertainment 244
17 A Mixture of Challenges Involving Marijauna, Ed Ziemba, Francis Fox, and Amway Corporation 250
18 The Osgoode Society for the Writing of Canadian Legal History 262
19 Solicitor General and the Mississauga Derailment 268
20 The Challenging Cases of Susan Nelles and Henry Morgantaler 278
21 The Constitution and the Patriation Case in the Supreme Court of Canada 290
22 Negotiations over the Patriation of the Canadian Constitution 308
23 René Levesque 322
24 Israel 329
25 Travel Abroad to India and Pakistan 336
26 Northern Justice, Aboriginal Art, and My Own Painting 345
27 Reflections on the Davis Government and Life as a Constituency Politician 354
28 Candidate for the Leadership of the PC Party of Ontario 365
Part Four: At the Court of St. James and Home Again
29 My New Life as High Commissioner in London 381
30 The High Commissioner’s Work 398
31 My Years with Blaney, McMurtry, and the Canadian Football League 418
32 Sport as a Development Tool in the Commonwealth 434
Part Five: Sixteen Years as a Judge
33 Appointment to the Bench, 1991 443
34 Chief Justice of Ontario 455
35 The Role of Judges in Relation to the Rule of Law, Independence, and the Charter of Rights 478
36 Visits of Cuba 489
Part Six: Retirement
37 Life after Judicial Retirement 499
38 Reflections on My Life 523
INDEX 535
Reviews
Memoirs and Reflections is a reader’s delight. It tells the story of a remarkable man who, despite his major achievements in politics and the law, remained humble and compassionate…. McMurtry’s style is strong, elegant and balanced to match a public and private life that cannot fail to fascinate and impress. Jane Ekstram, British Journal of Canadian Studies, vol 28, 2015
Memoirs and Reflections is a book and a half. It is both a chronicle of our times and a deeply personal account of Roy McMurtry's incredibly active and diverse life. I could not put it down.... Reading Memoirs and Reflections is not merely a pleasure, it is an exercise in admiration. For a story of a man of compulsive decency, ... read this book and revel in the company of Roy McMurtry. Justice Nancy Backhouse, Advocates' Journal, Vol 32, 2014.
Retired Chief Justice Roy McMurtry has just written a fascinating autobiography .... McMurtry's successful careers in law, politics, diplomacy and as a judge are well known .... [T]his book provides a unique insight by McMurtry himself into the events that shaped his career.... Chief Justice Roy McMurtry has made an enormous contribution to legal and political life in Canada. In this fascinating book he shares personal details about his life and leadership on so many issues that we take for granted today. Greg Mulligan, Superior Court Judges Newsletter, Fall 2013.
Reviews of Memoirs and Reflections have also appeared in the following places: Jon Silver, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, vol 51, 2014, pp. 731-733
Ryan Alford, Ontario History, Vol 108, 2016, pp. 255-257
Jon Silver, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, vol 51, 2014, pp. 731-733
