John Russell Taylor

John Russell Taylor (November 28, 1917 – February 28, 2002) was a Canadian politician and immigration lawyer. He was the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament from Vancouver—Burrard from 1957 to 1962.

Early life John Taylor was born in Vancouver on November 28, 1917. He was the second son of Fred "Cyclone" Taylor, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was raised in Vancouver and later attended the University of Toronto, during which he helped the university's hockey team win two intercollegiate championships.

After earning a bachelor of arts degree Taylor enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1942, being discharged in 1946 after rising to the rank of Captain. He was called to the British Columbia bar as a lawyer the same year.

During the 1950s Taylor owned the Kerrisdale Monarchs, a senior semi-professional hockey team based in his Vancouver neighbourhood.

Political career Taylor was first elected as a Member of Parliament for Vancouver--Burrard during the 1957 general election. He used an advertising campaign that featured signs with only a pair of stencilled foot prints, no slogan, no candidate name and no party affiliation. The signs created a buzz, after which their origin was revealed and then the slogan "Follow John" was added to them. The Diefenbaker campaign took up the slogan and used it across Canada.

In the 1960s Taylor was counsel for Robert Brooks, an American citizen who was granted landing as an immigrant in 1963. Brooks was ordered deported in 1968 on grounds that he gave false and misleading information when he applied for landed immigrant status. An appeal against the deportation order was eventually considered by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1974, which, in a precedent-setting case, determined that the person did not have to knowingly present false or misleading information to be deportable.

During the 1970s, Taylor acted for David Duke, the Ku Klux Klan member, when he was removed from Canada. Among the other clients he acted for was Robert Satiacum, a U.S. native tribal leader, who was the first U.S. citizen to be found a Convention refugee in Canada, a decision later reversed by the Federal Court of Appeal in 1989.

Personal Taylor was an uncle of Mark Taylor, a professional ice hockey player in the 1980s, the son of his older brother.

Taylor died in hospital on February 28, 2002, after a short illness. He was survived by his wife Kathleen (Kay), whom he married during World War II, an adult daughter and son, three grandchildren, a brother and a sister.