Jules Deschênes

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The Honourable Jules Deschênes CC (June 7, 1923 – May 10, 2000) is a former Canadian jurist.

Born in Montreal, to Wilfrid Deschênes and Berthe Bérard, he completed grade school under the supervision of les Clercs de Saint-Viateur and classical studies under les Messieurs de Saint-Sulpice. He graduated from the University of Montreal and was admitted to the Bar of Quebec in 1946.

From 1946 to 1960 he practiced law. In 1961, he was named Queen's Counsel. In 1962 he was elected to the Council of the Montreal Bar. In 1962 he started to teach law the Université de Montréal.

On January 8, 1964 he accepted to prosecute at the Commission of Inquiry into the famous Coffin affair. In 1972 he was appointed a Justice of the Quebec Court of Appeal. In 1973 he was appointed, by Pierre Trudeau, Chief Justice of the Quebec Superior Court. He served in this position for ten years.

From 1984 to 1987 he was involved with the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities. In 1985 he was appointed to head the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada on alleged war criminals in Canada in which he officially reprimanded those special interest groups within the Jewish Canadian community whom, he wrote, had tabled "grossly exaggerated" claims about the number of alleged war criminals supposedly hiding in Canada. He submitted his report in 1986. He was the 102 president of the Royal Society of Canada from 1990 until 1992. From 1993 to 1997, he sat on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

He published his autobiography, Sur la ligne de feu, in 1988.

He married Jacqueline Lachapelle in 1948. They had two daughters and three sons.

[edit] Honours

In 1977 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
In 1989 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1992.