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Walter Tarnopolsky

Key contributions: Tarnopolsky was a pioneer in Canadian human rights law and a champion of civil liberties.

Earning his LLB in 1957, Tarnopolsky taught law at the U of S, the University of Ottawa, Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Windsor, and earned a national reputation as human rights advocate.

He served as chair of many boards of inquiry for the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and helped draft human rights legislation in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. Federally, he contributed to the creation of the 1978 Canadian Human Rights Act, and subsequently the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

He served as a member of United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Committee on Freedom of Science and Scholarship of the Royal Society of Canada.

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