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Canadian Prime Ministers | Political Leaders
Supreme Court Judges | Activists and Advocates
Canadian Prime Ministers
Sir John Abbott, BCL1854, was the third Prime Minister of Canada (1891-1892). He also served as the Mayor of Montreal from 1887 to 1888.- A legendary orator and master of political compromise, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, BCL1864, was Canada's seventh Prime Minister (1896-1911).
Political Leaders
- Paula Cox, BA’80, became the Premier of Bermuda in 2010. Together with her late father, former Bermudian finance minister C. Eugene Cox, BEng’60, she was part of the first father-daughter combination in Bermudian government.
- As the Finance Minister for the Province of Ontario, Dwight Duncan, BA’81, has overseen major changes to the province’s tax, pension and retirement income systems.
- Jack Layton, BA'71, was leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011. In the 2011 Federal election, Layton led the NDP to a total of 103 seats, making the party the Official Opposition for the first time in its history.
- Thomas d'Arcy McGee, BCL1861, a Father of Canadian confederation, bears the distinction of being the only Canadian political figure ever assassinated while in office.
- Formerly the Executive Director of the Ontario Securities Commission, Joe Oliver, BA’61, BCL’64, currently serves as Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources. As a student, he edited the McGill Law Journal.
- An environmentalist and educator, Justin Trudeau, BA'94, has represented the Montreal electoral division of Papineau in the Canadian House of Commons since 2008. He is currently the Liberal Party’s critic for youth, post-secondary education, and amateur sport.
- Alexander Cameron Rutherford, BA1881, LLB1881, was the first Premier of Alberta and the founder of the University of Alberta.
- Marie-Claire Kirkland Strover, BCL'50, LLD’97, is the first woman elected to the Quebec National Assembly, where she served from 1966 to 1973. She was also the first woman to plead before the Quebec Private Bills Committee, the first female cabinet minister, and the first female acting Premier of Quebec.
- Vaira Vîke-Freiberga, PhD'65, DSc’02, was elected president of the Republic of Latvia in 1999, becoming the first woman to hold such a post in Eastern Europe. She served as president until 2007.
Supreme Court Judges
- Ian Binnie, BA'60, LLD’01, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1998. He served as Associate Deputy Minister of Justice from 1982 to 1986.
- Marie Deschamps, LLM'83, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2002, after having served on the Quebec Court of Appeal since 1992.
- Morris Fish, BA'59, BCL'62, LLD’01, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2003, after having served on the Québec Court of Appeal since 1989.
Activists and Advocates
In 1948, John Humphrey, BCom'25, BA'27, BCL'29, PhD'45, LLD'76, was a young law professor on leave from McGill. It was during this time away that he wrote the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.- Tamar Oppenheimer, BA'46, LLD'94, was the former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations. She was the first Canadian woman to serve as Assistant Secretary-General of the UN.
- A pioneering social activist, Madeleine Parent, BA'40, LLD'02, played a key role in the textile strikes in 1940s Quebec and in establishing Canadian unions. She was a founding member of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, where she represented Quebec for eight years.
- McGill Chancellor emeritus Dick Pound, BCom'62, BCL'67, LLD’09, has been part of the Olympic movement for more than 40 years. He has participated as an athlete, an advocate, and as the Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He is currently the Chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
- Canada's Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, BCL'80, is the first data protection authority in the world to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the privacy policies and practices of Facebook.
- Stephen Toope, BCL'83, LLB'83, is the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia.
