Jurist a veteran of D-Day

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This article was published 30/11/2013 (4620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alfred Monnin, former chief justice of the Court of Appeal of Manitoba and veteran of the 1944 D-Day invasion, has died at age 93.

Monnin began his career as a lawyer before being appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench in 1957 and was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Manitoba five years later.

Appointed chief justice of the Court of Appeal in 1983, he retired in 1990.

One of his last public appearances was a year ago when he and other veterans were honoured by French and provincial officials at a special ceremony at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

In the late 1990s, Monnin chaired the inquiry into the 1995 provincial election where he found members of the Manitoba Conservative Party had financed candidates from a third party in an attempt to split the vote in three ridings. The Conservatives were defeated in the 1999 election.

In one of the most damning statements from a bench, Monnin called the actions of the Conservative organizers an “unconscionable debasement of a citizen’s right to vote.”

He added: “In all my years on the bench I have never encountered as many liars in one proceeding as I did during this inquiry.”

Monnin was awarded the Order of Canada in 1990 and in 2000 was awarded the Order of Manitoba. He was also appointed a member of L’Orde des francophones d’Amerique in 1979, and an Officer of the French Legion of Honor.

Born in St. Boniface in 1920, Monnin received a bachelor of arts in 1939 and decided to enter law for practical reasons.

“There were very few lawyers,” Monnin recalled in a 2012 interview with University of Manitoba law professor Darcy MacPherson. “I told myself ‘I should go into that profession. There should be work available; if not now, there will be in a few years.’ “

But first came the Second World War. Monnin enlisted and became a member of the 4th Canadian Brigade, which took part in the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

“I was part of a regiment, the 4th Brigade, which was made up of anglophones from Toronto,” Monnin recalled of his war years. “They knew that I spoke French. They told me that I would be the one to make contact with the French civilians, if there were any.”

Monnin completed his law degree after returning to Winnipeg, and spent the next six decades establishing a career both in law practice and behind the bench.

The family name remains a constant in the Manitoba court system.

Two of Monnin’s sons, Michel and Marc, currently serve on the Manitoba Court of Appeal. Daughter-in-law Laurie Allen serves as a judge in the Family Division of the Court of Queen’s Bench. Another daughter-in-law, Donna Miller, is a former federal associate deputy minister of justice. Grandson Christian and his wife are also lawyers. Granddaughter Marisa Monnin is a graduate with a law degree from the University of Ottawa and is a member of the bar of Upper Canada.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca