Brian Stevenson began his career before the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was even law and is known for presiding over one of the most pivotal cases in the early days of the Constitution being invoked in criminal proceedings
When Justice Brian Stevenson was appointed to the bench, Calgary’s population was 443,000, the box office king was Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles and the number one hit that week was Billy Don’t Be a Hero by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods.
On Tuesday members of Calgary’s legal community gathered in a city courtroom to fete Stevenson for his astonishing 50 years as a member of the provincial court, now the Alberta Court of Justice.
Stevenson, 84, will hang up his robes for the last time later this year after an illustrious career on the bench which began with his appointment by Premier Peter Lougheed on July 9, 1974.
He has been sitting as a supernumerary (or part-time) judge for several years, but due to shortages in the judiciary has remained one of the busiest jurists in Calgary.
Stevenson began his career before the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was even law and is known for presiding over one of the most pivotal cases in the early days of the Constitution being invoked in criminal proceedings.
In March 1983, Stevenson acquitted Big M Drug Mart for violating The Lord’s Day Act for opening on Sundays, finding it violated the fundamental freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed in the Charter, a ruling upheld all the way to the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, he was able to make light of his ruling, how it angered his God-fearing Christian mother who informed him “I didn’t raise you that way” and how his future wife bemoaned the fact “some (expletive) judge” had forced a poor Safeway clerk to miss a family gathering because she had to work on Sunday.
But Stevenson noted his decision, which was unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court, found the act discriminated against other religions that didn’t observe Sunday as a day of worship.
‘We would have you for another 50 years’
Among those who spoke about the judge’s five decades of judicial accomplishments was Assistant Chief Crown prosecutor Gord Haight, who provided one of the more entertaining anecdotes of Stevenson’s career.
In years past courtrooms that completed their dockets early would check on other courtrooms to alleviate their workloads.
Before adjourning to allow files to be divvied up, Stevenson told those in attendance the procedure would allow them to get home sooner, Haight said.
“Except of course those of you who are going to jail,” Stevenson added.
Senior defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli noted Stevenson also served as president of the Lion’s Club International and in that role met Pope John Paul II and kept a photo of them in his office.
“The real question is does the pope have that picture in his office,” Iovinelli joked.
But perhaps defence lawyer Krysia Pzrepiorka summed up the feeling of the dozens in attendance best when she concluded by saying: “If we had our way, sir, we would have you for another 50 years.”