Julien Chouinard

Who was Julien Chouinard?

Julien Chouinard, OC CD was a Canadian lawyer, civil servant and Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Born in Quebec City, the son of Joseph Julien Chouinard and Berthe Cloutier, he received a BA in 1948 and a LL.L. in 1951 from Université Laval. As a Rhodes Scholar, he received a BA in 1953 from Oxford University. In 1953, he was called to the Quebec Bar and started to practice law. He also taught law at Université Laval.

In 1965, he joined the Quebec civil service as deputy minister of Justice. In 1968, he was appointed Secretary General of the Executive Council of Quebec. He ran unsuccessfully as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the Canadian House of Commons for the Quebec riding of Matane in the 1968 federal election. In recognition of his contribution to public service, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1974. In 1974, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Quebec. In 1979, Prime Minister Joe Clark appointed him to the Supreme Court and served until his death from brain cancer in 1987. He is buried in the Cimetière Notre-Dame-de-Belmont.