setName:"GOLD, Alan" found 2 records - The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network

Scope and Content: This collection reflects the everyday work of the Honourable Alan Bernard Gold, an important Quebec figure in his career as lawyer and judge. It also reflects his commitment to numerous professional and community organizations, as well as his passion for and patronage of classical music and reperto…

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Collection: GOLD, Alan

Description Level: Fonds

Material Type: textual record; graphic material; moving images

Physical Description: 6.1 metres of textual records. - 40 photographs. - 2 videos.

Scope and Content: This collection reflects the everyday work of the Honourable Alan Bernard Gold, an important Quebec figure in his career as lawyer and judge. It also reflects his commitment to numerous professional and community organizations, as well as his passion for and patronage of classical music and repertory theatre. Most of the collection consists of speeches and correspondence. The 6.10 metres of textual records.in the collection include 13 large bound agenda books and 3 published books. The majority of the approximately 135 speeches are arranged together, although some appear in other files. The correspondence is mostly professional. The personal communication consists largely of letters of congratulation from family and friends for various judicial appointments and awards. The collection also includes minutes from various organizations, notes, court judgments, newspaper clippings, published interviews, event programs, event photographs, conference material, and some financial records and published books. There are 40 photographs and 2 VHS videocassettes of television coverage. The files are usually arranged in anti-chronological order.

Date: 1985-2005.

Fonds No.: P0245

History / Biographical: Due to his negotiating skills, Judge Alan B. Gold (OC, OQ) played an important role during several critical incidents in Quebec and Canadian history. He was involved in many Jewish community organizations as well as in the wider community. Born in Montreal on July 21, 1917, Alan Bernard Gold was the eldest of four children. His immigrant parents instilled in him a strong Jewish faith and identity, which his own son would later credit as the reason for his successful career. He received his B.A. from Queen's University in 1938, followed by his LL.L. in 1941 from Université de Montréal. He was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1942 but served with the Royal Canadian Artillery for the next four years. Upon his return to Montreal, Gold became an active member of the Bar of Quebec. In 1951 he was elected President of the Junior Bar; then in the years immediately following moved on to become a member of the Board of Examiners of the Bar, a founding director and officer of the Legal Aid Bureau and a leading barrister. From 1957 until 1971 he taught at the Faculty of Law of McGill University. In 1959 he was named Queen's Counsel, and in 1961, at the age of forty-four, he received his first judicial appointment, becoming a District Judge. In that capacity he was asked to serve as the first Vice-Chairman of the Quebec Labour Relations Board. In 1965, he was appointed Associate Chief Judge of the Provincial Court, and in 1970 he acceded to the post of Chief Judge of that Court (now renamed the Court of Quebec). As Chief Judge he served as President of the Quebec Judicial Council and Chairman of the Conseil du Référendum in 1980. In 1983, Alan Gold was appointed Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec, remaining in this position until 1992. At the time, the Court struggled with severe delays and backlogs. Knowing that "justice delayed is justice denied", Judge Gold was successful in working to improve its efficiency. He saw his role as one of management, and several of his speeches are titled "Le Juge en chef, gestionnaire de la Cour supérieure". After retiring from the Bench in 1992 at the mandatory age of seventy-five, Gold moved on to the field of private-sector dispute resolution as a full-time arbitrator and mediator. He took the position as Senior Counsel to the firm of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, and was the chair of their Department of Alternative Dispute Resolution until his death. Throughout his long career, even while on the Bench, he was "most famed as an arbitrator and mediator" of public sector and para-public sector disputes. He acted in numerous well-known national and provincial cases, most notably involving Canadian ports, railways, airlines, and the Post Office. As an arbitrator he helped avoid a strike by the longshoremen at the Port of Montreal in 1968. In 1990, he negotiated a settlement between the Quebec government and the Mohawk people in the Oka standoff, and in 1993, he negotiated a settlement at Nationair, bringing the 16 month-long Lockout of its Flight Attendants to an end. Also in 1993 he represented the government of Saskatchewan in negotiating a settlement in the wrongful conviction of David Milgaard and reviewed the out-of-court settlement between former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the federal government in Mulroney's anti-defamation suit in the alleged Airbus affair. He served as Chairman of the Bar of Montreal's committee on access to justice in the English language in the judicial district of Montreal whose Report was submitted on March 31, 1995. Among his non-juridical activities, he was Chairman of McGill University, Chancellor of Concordia University and Associate Governor of the University of Montreal. In addition to his dedication to the cause of higher education, he was involved in the arts (Place des Arts, I Musici) and in the Montreal Jewish community (e.g.: Montreal Holocaust Centre, Federation CJA). He was also a founding member of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (USA). Over his career he received numerous honourary degrees, medals and other recognition; notably, in 1995 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995, and an Officer of the L'Ordre National du Québec in 1985. In 1991, he received the Médaille du Barreau du Québec, and in 1997 he was named a member of the Académie des Grands Montréalais for his many contributions to the cultural and social life of the City. Five universities bestowed honourary doctorates upon him, including Yeshiva University in 1987, and in 1996 he was made an Honourary Life Member of the National Academy of Arbitrators (USA). In 1992, he was awarded the Canadian Jewish Congress' Samuel Bronfman Medal, and in 1998, he was the recipient of the Tel-Aviv University President's Award. In 1949, he married Lynn Lubin and they had three children: Marc, Nora and Daniel. They were long-time members of Shaare Zedek Congregation in Montreal. He died on May 15, 2005 at the age of eighty-seven. Sources: Abridged biography by Alan Gold, Sept. 2001 (in collection); Recueil bibliographique des membres de l'Ordre national du Québec 1985 and 1997; Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_B._Gold,; http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/Sen/Chamber/381/Debates/061db_2005-05-17-e.htm#12., http://www.droit.umontreal.ca/doctorat/prix_bourses/bourse_alan_b_gold.html.