Morris C. Shumiatcher

Canadian lawyer (1917–2004)

Morris Cyril "Shumi" Shumiatcher (September 20, 1917 – September 23, 2004) was a Canadian lawyer, human rights activist, philanthropist, arts patron, art collector, author, and lecturer. As senior legal counsel in the provincial government of Tommy Douglas, he drafted the 1947 Saskatchewan Bill of Rights, the first such bill in the British Commonwealth. He established a successful private law practice in Regina in 1949 and argued numerous cases of constitutional law before the Supreme Court of Canada. He and his wife Jacqui contributed millions of dollars to support the arts, universities, and other charities in Regina, and also amassed a significant private collection of Inuit art in Canada. He was the recipient of many awards and honours, including the Order of Canada in 1981 and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 1997.

Morris Cyril Shumiatcher was born in Calgary, Alberta, to Abraham Isaac Shumiatcher, Q. C. (1890–1974), a lawyer, and his wife Luba (née Lubinsky). He had one sister, Minuetta, who became a concert pianist in the United States. He was Jewish. After attending primary and secondary school in Calgary, It codified the rights of due process, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and freedom of the press, and included protections against discrimination. The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights is still in force, as Part 2 of The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, 2018. Shumiatcher included a protection against gender discrimination, but it did not appear in the final draft. However, the bill lacked an enforcement mechanism, making it "more a symbol than an instrument for defending human rights". In 1948, he was appointed King's Counsel by the government of Saskatchewan, becoming the youngest person in the Commonwealth of Nations to receive that honour. Shumiatcher left government employ in 1949 to start his own legal practice in Regina. he specialized in labour, tax, and corporate law He represented Joe Borowski before the Supreme Court of Canada in the latter's 1980s challenge to the constitutionality of abortion law; the court declared the case moot in 1989.

Shumiatcher began collecting art in his twenties; he returned from his study year in Japan in 1941 with "masks, woodblock prints and kimonos". In 1954 he visited Lac la Ronge, northern Saskatchewan, where he purchased four Inuit sculptures. After their marriage in 1955, he and his wife Jacqui amassed what was later termed "one of the most significant private collections of Inuit art in Canada". Their home included an extensive gallery displaying their acquisitions.

Shumiatcher's high profile in Western Canada, fueled by his successful law practice and prominent social status, made him the target of criticism in the legal world, which "perceived [him] as unconventional, flamboyant, and something of a gadfly". In 1962 Shumiatcher was charged with conspiracy to defraud the public as a result of advice he had given a corporate client, and was disbarred. Shumiatcher stated he was the object of a vendetta by leading politicians and legal personalities whom he had offended. Many Saskatchewan judges supported him. In 1964 the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan set aside the conviction for conspiracy, citing "manifest error by the trial judge". The court also invalidated Shumiatcher's disbarment, but new allegations received by the Law Society of Saskatchewan prompted the latter group to suspend Shumiatcher's membership for six months beginning in September 1966. Shumiatcher appealed that decision to the Court of Appeal, which granted his appeal and ruled against the Law Society's decision for lack of evidence. The Court of Appeal declined to grant leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear any further appeals, ending Shumiatcher's legal disputes.

Shumiatcher served as president of the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Commonwealth Society, and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Committee for Saskatchewan. He sat on the board of directors of the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts and of Beth Jacob Synagogue in Regina. He was also a member of the National Council of the Canadian Bar Association and was an honorary solicitor of the Regina Press Club. He was honoured with life membership in the Monarchist League of Canada in 1992 and in the Regina Bar Association in 1997. They married in April 1955. Like her husband, Jacqui was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2001

Shumiatcher died on September 23, 2004. His papers are held at the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan.