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The FR Scott Lecture

"A native of Québec City, F.R. Scott (...) led a varied life as a poet, constitutional lawyer, and politician. He completed his schooling in Québec in 1919, taught for one year, and then went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1920. Scott returned to Montréal in 1923 and entered the Law School at McGill University in 1924. During this time he was involved in The McGill Daily Literary Supplement and The McGill Fornightly Review which he helped to establish. In 1928 he joined the Law Faculty at McGill as Assistant Professor of constitutional and federal law. In 1931-1932, Scott and historian Frank Underhill founded the League for Social Reconstruction, a socialist study group. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was involved in editing and contributing to a number of literary magazines, was active with the C.C.F., and published his first collection of poetry, Overture, in 1945. He published Events and Signals in 1954 and Eye of the Needle in 1957. He was appointed Macdonald Professor of Law in 1955 and was Dean of Law from 1961 to 1963. During the 1960s, Scott helped found the New Party, the successor to the C.C.F. and the predecessor to the N.D.P. Following his retirement from active party politics, he served on the Royal Commission on Biculturalism and Bilingualism. In 1977 his Essays on the Constitution won the Governor-General's Award." He died in 1985 at the age of 85.

( McGill Archives)

 

Upcoming lecture

  • 2026 lecture to be announced

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