The former chief justice of the Superior Court of Quebec and president of a commission of inquiry into the Sûreté du Québec, Lawrence Poitras, died Saturday at the age of 91.
“It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of the Honorable Justice Lawrence A. Poitras QC, which occurred in Montreal on April 9, 2022,” said his daughter Marie Claire Poitras.
Judge Poitras was particularly known for having overseen a commission of inquiry into the Sûreté du Québec from 1996 to 1999, after accusations of corruption and tampering with evidence within the provincial police. The 2,700-page report then raised several issues and led to reforms within this police force.
First a journalist for the “Montreal Star”, Mr. Poitras later decided to train as a lawyer. He opened his private practice in 1957, before being appointed to the Queen’s Counsel in 1973.
It was two years later that he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of Quebec. He later rose through the ranks as Associate Chief Justice in 1983 and Chief Justice in 1992. He then chose to leave the bench in 1996, before retiring in 2007.
He had also been a member of a commission of inquiry to shed light on the conviction of Donald Marshall, a member of the Mi’kmaq community in Nova Scotia, who was imprisoned for 11 years for a murder he did not had not committed. The racism and injustice of the province’s judicial system were decried in the report published in 1990.
The judge also chaired the Canadian Conference of Superior Court Judges and received several honours, including the first medal of homage from the Barreau du Québec and the Order of Canada.
“Lawrence Poitras has played a decisive role in improving the functioning of the judiciary and in the efficiency of the Canadian legal system”, is it possible to read on the website of the Governor General of Canada.