Officer of the Order of Canada
- Awarded on: December 14, 1981
- Invested on: April 21, 1982
As a Rhodes Scholar from Saskatchewan he studied law at Oxford before joining the Department of Justice in 1939. There he drafted the Canada Tax Act of 1945, and rose to Deputy Minister and Deputy Attorney General in 1957. In 1964, he became President of the Exchequer Court and in 1971 Chief Justice of the Federal Court. Among his innovations have been speedier trials and the bringing of the trial judge and Court of Appeal to all areas of Canada.