Barry Strayer

Who is Barry Strayer?

Barry Lee Strayer, OC served as a Justice of the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal and later as a Deputy Judge of the Federal Court of Canada. He is known as one of the instrumental drafters of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In 1959, Strayer graduated from the faculty of law at the University of Saskatchewan. He worked at the Department of Justice in Saskatchewan until 1963 at which point he began teaching at the University of Saskatchewan. He eventually became the Director of the Constitutional Law Division of the Privy Council Office. In 1974 he was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice where he spent several years working on first drafts of the Charter.

In 2008, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.