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hundreds of tributes are flowing in for the toronto attorney, who took on some of the united states’s maximum groundbreaking and excessive-profile cases.
clayton ruby, certainly one of canada’s maximum outspoken and influential civil rights and criminal defense legal professionals, has died. he became 80.
a assertion from his toronto law company, ruby shiller enenajor digiuseppe, said ruby exceeded away peacefully on tuesday surrounded by means of his family.
“he taught me that justice is what love looks like in public,” tweeted annamaria enenajor, a accomplice in ruby’s law company, who known as ruby a “loving and supportive mentor.”
ruby formally retired about a yr and a half in the past but his profile continued to be prominently displayed on the corporation’s internet site.
during his 50-plus-yr felony profession, ruby represented severa high-profile clients, inclusive of guy paul morin, who turned into wrongly convicted and then exonerated after a prolonged public inquiry, in the october 1984 rape and murder of eight-yr-antique christine jessop.
amongst his other celebrated instances, ruby represented michelle douglas, a soldier brushed off from the army in 1989 for her sexual orientation. in 1992, quickly earlier than her case became to visit trial, the navy abandoned its rules banning lgbtq canadians from serving and settled the case.
douglas commented on social media that ruby and his accomplice (now a justice of the ontario superior courtroom) “lifted me up” in her combat towards the canadian army.
“he turned into kind and mild with me,” stated douglas. “he become no longer mild or kind to the authorities.”
he additionally changed into co-recommend for donald marshall jr.—an aboriginal canadian from nova scotia who became wrongfully convicted of a murder while he was 17—at the royal commission that nearly twenty years later in the end exonerated marshall of the crime.
one in all ruby’s many cases that garnered superb publicity turned into a 1993 acquittal of five ladies charged for baring their breasts in public in what he framed as a victory for freedom of expression. in another in 2012, ruby changed into recommend for a toronto citizen who released a conflict-of-hobby case in opposition to debatable former toronto mayor rob ford.
ruby changed into also a member of the purchaser’s council for the medically assisted dying advocacy employer loss of life with dignity. in 1994, he represented former member of federal parliament svend robinson, who became gift at what was then the unlawful medically assisted loss of life of sue rodriguez. robinson did now not end up being charged, and assisted death is now prison in canada.
like many others, robinson in a tweet referred to as ruby a “large of the felony profession.”
ruby also launched a constitutional undertaking to regulation that could have retroactively unsealed private adoption facts in the province of ontario. the regulation turned into struck down in 2007 as a result.
in a speech to a group of toronto college students some years ago, ruby stated the muse for his combat for civil rights and equality changed into paul goodman, an anarchist philosopher from the Fifties, whose writings “nourished a whole technology within the Seventies,” according to a report of the occasion.
a larger-than-life figure, tributes to ruby flowed in via social media from loads of legal professionals and other admirers.
canada’s justice minister and legal professional standard david lametti stated ruby’s “a long time of principled advocacy have left an indelible mark on our justice machine and canadian society.”
douglas elliott, another staunch defender of equality rights in canada, said: “clay turned into an outspoken advise of the left at a time lengthy many years ago while there had been few such voices in the traditionally conservative prison profession. within the bad vintage days while the criminal law became used as a cudgel of oppression in opposition to the gay community, clay was a unprecedented and reliable directly best friend in our fight for freedom.”
ruby “become a mentor and friend to generations of canadian attorneys. he turned into a renowned criminal legal professional and champion for human rights,” former colleagues at neighboring corporation addario law group posted on twitter.
on linkedin, personal damage lawyer richard lebkowski stated of ruby: “he helped maintain my profession earlier than it began and never once raised the subject of fee. he turned into a gentleman and consummate expert and will be overlooked.”
ruby acquired the order of canada in 2005 and volunteered with various human rights companies which includes pen canada, human rights watch and the sierra felony defense fund.
ruby leaves in the back of his spouse, advanced court justice harriet sachs, in addition to two children and grandchildren.
