Désiré Girouard

Désiré Girouard (July 7, 1836 – March 22, 1911) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Early life

Born in Saint-Timothée, Lower Canada (now part of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec), the son of Jérémie Girouard and Hyppolite Picard, he received his Bachelor of Civil Law from McGill University in 1860. He was called to the Quebec Bar in 1860 and practiced law.

Political life

In 1872 and 1874 he ran unsuccessfully for the House of Commons of Canada in the riding of the Quebec electoral districts of Jacques Cartier and Beauharnois as a Conservative, losing both times. He was elected by two votes in the 1878 election in the riding of Jacques Cartier. He was subsequently re-elected in 1882, 1887 and 1891.

Girouard was an author and contributor to legal journals and had been critical of the Supreme Court during his time in Parliament.

In 1892, he became the first mayor of Dorval, Quebec.

Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada On September 28, 1895, Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell appointed Girouard to the Supreme Court of Canada to fill the vacancy created when Justice Télésphore Fournier retired from the Court on September 12, 1895. Prior to his appointment, Girouard had not previously served as a judge and had declined appointments to lower courts, but was praised for his role in addressing the McGreevy-Langevin scandal in Parliament. Girouard served on the court until his death from injuries in a sleighing accident in Ottawa in 1911.

Historian Ian Bushnell describes Girouard as a creative justice, and was capable in considering the effect of social conditions in his decisions, rather than strictly adhering to precedent.

Family life He was entombed at the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.

Girouard Avenue in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, was named for him.

His son, Sir Édouard Percy Cranwill Girouard, was the governor of the East Africa Protectorate (Kenya).

Electoral record