Talk:John Sopinka
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[edit] Timeline
I deleted the passage that said his family moved to Hamilton in 1955. It must have been earlier than that, if he "completed secondary school" there, since he was born in 1933. The SCC web site says it was 1941, which makes a bit more sense, although if he moved there at the age of 7 or 8, how is it that he "completed" secondary school in Hamilton? Wouldn't all of his secondary school education have been there? --Mathew5000 11:38, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] courthouse
I rewrote the last paragraph about the courthouse named for Sopinka in downtown Hamilton. I used two web pages as sources: [1] [2]. A couple of things are unclear to me. First, is the correct name of the courthouse "John Sopinka Court House" or "John Sopinka Courthouse"? Both have hits on Google. Also, the building itself was originally named "Dominion Public Building"; I assume that name is now superseded. But I'm not certain. Also, the two web pages have a discrepancy in the estimate of how much was spent; one says $64-million, the other says $77-million. Also, the way I have phrased it says "In 1999, a new courthouse in downtown Hamilton was named in his honour." I wonder if this needs to be re-worded because does it suggest that the building itself is new, or just that it is new qua courthouse? The idea that needs to be conveyed is that when they converted the building into a courthouse, it was named for Sopinka. --Mathew5000 11:48, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] cause of death
Article says he died of a "rare blood disease" but what specifically was the name of the disease? Was it ever ascertained that he contracted the disease while on vacation in Ukraine, or had he had it for a while and just coincidentally started showing symptoms after visiting Ukraine? --Mathew5000 11:50, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] no prior judicial experience
I took out the phrasing that it is a "tradition" to have one appointment from private practice. It might become a tradition, but I think it's too early to declare it a tradition yet. Also I re-worded that part to make it clear that he was not actually the first Supreme Court judge to be appointed without having been a judge previously. For example, Robert Taschereau. Also I'm pretty sure Ronald Martland was appointed to the SCC directly from private practice in 1958. There were probably several others as well over the history of the SCC.
Also, this article says that Sopinka was asked to join the Ontario Court of Appeal in the mid-1980s, but he declined, and told the Justice Minister that he might take a different view if he were offered a spot on the SCC. Perhaps that could be added in the article although I don't know how reliable the source is. It refers back to an interview in the October 8, 1995 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly. --Mathew5000 12:15, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
- The article Roland Ritchie says expressly that he was appointed (in 1958) to the SCC with no prior judicial experience. The articles on Robert Taschereau and Ronald Martland don't mention any prior judicial expression, but also don't say there was none. --Mathew5000 20:59, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] What position did he play?
In football, of course. Thanks, heqs 02:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
