LEGAL ARCHIVES SOCIETY OF ALBERTA Architypes To understand the evolution of law and society in Alberta is to understand our past... Newsletter Volume 25, Issue 2 Fall 2016 Calgary Historical From the Vault The Agreement Edmonton Historical William Robinson 2016 Annual Campaign Dinner LASA Processes Judge Medicine Hat Dinner Howson Make your mark on Join LASA for our Annual John Sissons’ Papers from LASA premieres our first Recapping the Hon. Jean Edmonton Lawyer Alberta’s legal history Historical Dinner, October North of 60° historical docu-drama Côté William Robinson 20, 2016 about a Medicine Hat Howson’s unique career lawyer path Historical Dinners A Tale of Two Courts: Please join the Legal Archives Society of Alberta in welcoming our lively guest speaker, the Honourable James Foster, Q.C., a form Minister of Justice From Magistrate’s Court to and Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench. Mr. Foster will recall the events that led to the contentious and transformational change of the Alberta justice system in 1979, from the the Court of Queen’s Bench District Courts and the Supreme Court of Alberta to the Provincial Court, the Court of Queen’s Bench, and the Court of Appeal. It also led to the creation of the Department of the Attorney General, which included a new Medical Examiner system. Transformation is not always easy. Mr. Foster, the Minister of Justice of the day will give an insider’s perspective at the support and surprising resistance from judges, lawyers, benchers, politicians, police, and even the Calgary Herald. How did such a transformation happen in the face of considerable opposition from many players in the justice system in Alberta? We invite you to join us for this riveting tale of two Courts? Last sitting of the Supreme Court of Please join LASA at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary on Thursday, Alberta, Trial Division, October 20, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. For more event details, visit LASA 65-G-8 www.legalarchives.ca. ✱ Volume 25, Issue 2 1 LEGAL ARCHIVES SOCIETY OF ALBERTA From the Vault 1955, at the age of 63, Judge Sissons accepted the appointment as the first Judge Sissons: resident judge of the Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories. Adventurer and Trailblazer Based in Yellowknife, Judge Sissons prided himself on the principle of “taking justice to every man’s door”, and he and his team travelled over the An Archivist’s Tale eastern and western court circuit at least once a year. In his eleven years as a judge in the north, Judge Sissons presided over many noteworthy trials By Kelly Turner involving murder, hunting rights and marriage and adoption customs. Judge Sissons was known to acquit the accused, because he felt that the “white man’s law” did not properly apply to Aboriginal circumstances in Recently, I had the pleasure of working for thirteen weeks at LASA. My many cases. Though he would often have his rulings overturned, Sissons first assignment was to arrange and describe a collection of papers was tireless in his fight with the Federal government over Aboriginal rights. belonging to Judge John H. “Jack” Sissons, the first resident judge appointed to the Northwest Territories. I had never heard of Judge Sissons, Judge Sissons, known in the north as Ekoktoegee - the one who listens to but one of the best things about being an archivist is learning about different things - retired in 1966. He and his wife Frances moved to Edmonton, people. Once a name becomes a story, a personal connection is formed, and where, in 1968, he wrote a book, Judge of the Far North: The Memoirs of now I confess I feel almost protective of Judge Sissons and his records. Jack Sissons, which discussed his life and many of the cases he dealt with in the north. The book is available in LASA’s library and it includes a number Naturally, I began my of documents from LASA’s collection. Judge Sissons died in 1969. project reading everything I could find about Judge In his book, Judge Sissons wrote, “we can live as many [lives] as we have Sissons. Initial research the courage and energy to undertake.” He certainly exhibited those allows an archivist to qualities in abundance and he was always up for an adventure. Judge become familiar with key Sissons proved that it is never too late to try something new and reminded events in a person’s life and us that life is full of surprises. what that person may have considered important. This Once I had a good grasp of Judge Sissons’ life, I examined the contents of is very helpful when the boxes of documents. This research helped me form ideas for the series organizing that person’s that I ultimately created: correspondence, publications, miscellaneous records. personal papers, scrapbooks, and photographs. Every collection features a First sitting of the Court of Appeal in the few gems. The letters to his daughter, Fran, are some of the very best. They Judge Sissons was born and Northwest Territories, 1960 reveal Judge Sissons’ feelings about cases he heard and his views on many raised in Ontario, but political issues. They also provide words of comfort and advice and are always felt a pull to the often punctuated with humour. The scrapbooks are very special too. They west and the north. His first trip out west was in 1910. First, he taught in are filled with newspaper and magazine articles about important cases, as Sundial, Alberta, but moved to Edmonton by the end of the year where he well as clippings about Judge Sissons from his time as an MP until his worked in the Municipal Affairs department. He returned to Ontario in death. The collection also contains photos and correspondence, including a 1913 to study law at Queen’s University. Following his graduation, he birthday telegram from worked briefly in a munitions plant when it was determined he would not the Prime Minister. be able to enlist in World War I due to a limp resulting from polio as a child. Nearly 200 items make up Again feeling the pull to the west, he returned to Alberta and articled at the the photographs series Edmonton firm of Rutherford, Jamieson, Grant and Steer, a predecessor of and several were taken in Milner Fenerty. 1958 by a Life Magazine photographer who A f t e r b e i n g travelled with Judge admitted to the Sissons and documented Alberta Bar in the different aspects of March 1921, Sissons circuit court. Other opened an office in photographs in the series Grande Prairie. A show Judge Sissons as a large part of his young man at Queen’s practice was spent University and as a litigating claims young father. a g a i n s t t h e Sissons, ca 1928, LASA 77G-3-6 Dedication to Sissons in Keewatin, 1972 Canadian Pacific Details of the Judge John Railway in Peace River country. He soon ventured into politics as a member H. Sissons fonds, as well of the Liberal Party and won the Peace River riding in 1940. While in as scans of the photographs in this collection, may be viewed on Alberta on Ottawa, Sissons wrote a regular column about events in Parliament. Sissons Record (www.albertaonrecord.ca). The profession is invited to examine lost his bid for re-election in 1945, but was rewarded for his political efforts this, and and other fonds, at LASA to discover the many interesting and in 1946 when he was appointed judge of the District Court of southern inspiring stories that are considered therein.✱ Alberta. This was not to be his last judicial appointment nor his greatest. In 2 Fall 2016 LEGAL ARCHIVES SOCIETY OF ALBERTA LASA Events The Agreement A Tale of Political Medicine Hat Intrigue in Alberta Premiere Courts LASA hosted its Annual Historical Fundraising Dinner in Edmonton February 25, 2106 at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. We were delighted to enlisting in the Canadian Army. He ended up in welcome the Honourable Jean Côté, recently retired the trenches during the Battle of the Somme in from the Court of Appeal of Alberta, to speak about 1916. the intriguing interplay between the Alberta courts and politics, with a particular focus on what is The story is an existential journey of the feeling and commonly known as the “Bankers’ Toadies” case. emotions of Davidson, a selfless and courageous figure, as he reflects on the events leading up to his During the great depression, a difficult period in enlistment. The story follows three soldiers, from Alberta’s history, frustration brought fear and disparate walks of life, who all know they are rancor to a boil in both the legislature and the On June 16, 2016, LASA hosted the premiere for The clearly facing likely death. courts. In 1935, Albertans elected a Social Credit Agreement in Medicine Hat. Nearly 125 people government, ousting the United Farmers of Alberta attended the event hosted at the historical Monarch The successful outcome of the film was the result of (UFA), who had held power since 1921. Led by Theatre. Members from the Medicine Hat bench a collaborative effort within both the archival and Alberta’s didactic Premier, William Aberhart, and and bar were joined by the film’s cast and crew, heritage communities. The film highlights both spurred by personal weakness and ignorance, he along with the Honourable Neil Wittmann, the Alberta and Canadian historical subject matter, made alliances with dangerous, zealous advisors Honourable John Rooke, the Honourable Jack including French-language content, as well as a imported from desperate and dying causes Major, Q.C., the Honourable Clifton O’Brien, Q.C., First Nations filmmaker, actor and partial story line oversees.