The FR Scott Lecture
"A native of Québec City, F.R. Scott (...) led a varied life as a poet, constitutional lawyer, and politician. He completed his schooling in Québec in 1919, taught for one year, and then went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1920. Scott returned to Montréal in 1923 and entered the Law School at McGill University in 1924. During this time he was involved in The McGill Daily Literary Supplement and The McGill Fornightly Review which he helped to establish. In 1928 he joined the Law Faculty at McGill as Assistant Professor of constitutional and federal law. In 1931-1932, Scott and historian Frank Underhill founded the League for Social Reconstruction, a socialist study group. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was involved in editing and contributing to a number of literary magazines, was active with the C.C.F., and published his first collection of poetry, Overture, in 1945. He published Events and Signals in 1954 and Eye of the Needle in 1957. He was appointed Macdonald Professor of Law in 1955 and was Dean of Law from 1961 to 1963. During the 1960s, Scott helped found the New Party, the successor to the C.C.F. and the predecessor to the N.D.P. Following his retirement from active party politics, he served on the Royal Commission on Biculturalism and Bilingualism. In 1977 his Essays on the Constitution won the Governor-General's Award." He died in 1985 at the age of 85.
Past lectures
- Hon. John H. Gomery and Bernard St. Laurent
Corruption. A View from an Insider
February 12, 2013 - Glenn D. Lowry, Director MoMA
A Fine Balance: When Art and the Law Meet
September 24, 2012 - Honourable Mr. Justice Morris Fish
The Effect of Alcohol on the Canadian Constitution...Seriously
February 2, 2011 - Graham Fraser
J’y suis, j’y reste: F. R. Scott and the Evolution of Language Rights
November 18, 2009 - The Honourable Justice W. Ian Binnie
Counter-Terrorism, Civil Liberties, and the Legacy of F.R. Scott
March 3, 2009 - L. Ian MacDonald
The BNA and the Charter: Two Mints in One
November 6, 2007 - Roderick Macdonald
Appoint, elect, draw straws or sell to the highest bidder? Choosing our judges
October 10, 2006 - Michael Gnawroski
Frank Scott: Man and Poet… retrouvé
April 6, 2005 - Antonia Maioni
The Welfare State and F.R. Scott’s Social Vision for Canada
April 2, 2003 - William Weintraub
Struggling to get published: the young Mordecai Richler
April 9, 2002 - Fred Kaufman, C.M., Q.C.
Lessons from the Morin Inquiry: The Presumption of Innocence
March 27, 2001 - Professor Emeritus Charles Taylor
Canadian Duality: The Unresolved Conflict
March 14, 2000 - Professor Desmond Paul Morton
Poet as Party Manager: Frank Scott and the CCF
April 7, 1999 - Professor Peter C.W. Hoffmann
The German Resistance to Hitler and the Persecution of the Jews
April 21, 1998 - Dr. Eric Ormsby
Poetry as Isotope: The Hidden Life of Words
May 6, 1997 - Professor Stephen Toope
Cultural Diversity and Human Rights
May 8, 1996 - Dr. Margaret Gillett
Women in the University: The Fourth Phase
April 5, 1995 - The Honorable Judge Alan B. Gold
The Arts are Everybody's Business
April 22, 1994 - Peter Dale Scott
F.R. Scott: Poetry and Politics
March 22, 1993 - Professor Irwin Cotler
The International Revolution in Human Rights
April 22, 1992 - Dr. Louis Dudek
What Do You Have Against Myth?
May 21, 1991 - Stephen Lewis
Make This Your Canada, Part II
June 11, 1990 - Dr. Leon Edel
Frank Scott and the Canadian Literary Renaissance
May 11, 1989