John Sissons

John "Jack" Howard Sissons (July 14, 1892 – November 11, 1969) was a Canadian barrister, author, judge and federal politician.

Early life Sissons was born in Orillia, Ontario and, at the age of four, contracted polio, which injured his leg and he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. His father worked at the Orillia Mental Asylum and Sissons was also employed there during the summer. Having left Orillia to teach in both Ontario and Alberta Sissons then moved to Kingston to attend Queen's University. In 1917 he returned to Alberta and passed the bar examination at Edmonton in 1920. He made many landmark decisions, and was very fair in his rulings. One intriguing move he made was to hire an Inuk carver to make soapstone carvings of prominent murder cases he presided over throughout the Far North; he was inspired to do this when he ruled in the favour of traditional justice in the case of a young boy, and the boy presented him with a soapstone carving after the trial. These carvings are on display in the present day Yellowknife Court House, and the collection continued to be added to by Justice William Morrow when he took Justice Sissons' place.

Notable Inuit cases Kikkik Stephen Angulalik

Heritage Sissons Lake, Sissons Court (the street, not the hall of justice), and the Ecole J.H. Sissons School in Yellowknife are named after him.