The Mighty Hughes From Prairie Lawyer to Western Canada’s Moral Compass is a book on U of S alumnus Ted Hughes by journalist Craig McInnes (published by Heritage House Publishing).
Hughes has made an outstanding contribution nationally as chief federal treaty negotiator, and is well known for his tireless work as chief adjudicator in residential school settlement claims.
Everyone is welcome to attend. You can register online.
Book signing: 4 pm
Remarks: 4:30 pm
About the book and the author: An in-depth look at the life and career of retired judge and conflict of interest commissioner Ted Hughes and how he earned his reputation as Western Canada’s conscience in the face of corruption.
Throughout his sixty-year career, Ted Hughes has been a model of ethical conduct in the Canadian judicial system.
The son of immigrant homesteaders who spent his childhood in Saskatoon during the Depression, he might have retired as a respected senior judge in the town where he was born had his career not been sideswiped by the intense party politics underpinning Canadian judicial appointments in the 1970s.
The injustice he felt led him to B.C., where he reinvented himself as a civil servant in a province that was earning a reputation for wacky, unprincipled politics. There, he became the province’s moral compass, a man of such integrity that his condemnation alone persuaded one premier to resign and another to bring in a watchdog to look after vulnerable children.
Hughes has ferociously defended the principles that underpin the best of our society. He has an unfashionable belief in the virtue of the law, the nobility and responsibility of public service, and the honour of politicians and politics. He was an early defender of equal rights for women in the legal system, an advocate for children in care, and one of the first public servants to speak out about the disastrous effect of colonization on Indigenous people.
Craig McInnes is a veteran reporter, editor, and writer. His long newspaper career includes 18 years with the Globe and Mail and 14 years with the Vancouver Sun, where he wrote extensively about public policy issues, science, medicine, and social trends. Since leaving daily journalism in 2013, he has continued to work as a writer and editorial consultant for a number of organizations and clients.
Event Details
- When:
- Time:
- 04:30 PM - 06:00 PM
- Location:
- Dentons LLP Student Lounge (College of Law, 15 Campus Drive)