Memorable Manitobans: John Donald Cameron (1858-1923)

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John Donald Cameron
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Lawyer, MLA (1892), MLA (1892-1896), MLA (1896-1899), judge.

Born at Woodstock, Ontario on 18 September 1858, of Scottish ancestry, he was a brilliant student at the University of Toronto (BA 1879) and came to Winnipeg in 1882. He was active in the Liberal Party and was elected or acclaimed as the MLA for South Winnipeg in 1892, 1892, 1893, and 1896. He served in the Greenway administration as Provincial Secretary (1893-1896), Minister of Municipal Affairs (1893-1900), and Attorney General (1896-1900).

Defeated in the 1899 and 1903 general elections, in January 1908 he was appointed a judge of the Court of King’s Bench and a judge of the Court of Appeal in April 1909. He had a reputation as the province’s most literate judge. In 1919 he denied the first bail application of the eight leaders of the Winnipeg General Strike who were charged with seditious conspiracy.

He was unmarried and had no children. He served as a Bencher for the Law Society of Manitoba and was, in 1905, a founding member of the St. Charles Country Club.

He died suddenly at St. Paul, Minnesota on 26 March 1923. He was commemorated by the Rural Municipality of Cameron.

Sources:

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

“Is successor to Judge Phippen,” Manitoba Free Press, 5 May 1909, page 11.

“Mr. Justice Cameron dies suddenly while on train at St. Paul,” Winnipeg Tribune, 27 March 1923, page 5.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (deceased), Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

“Free Press Necrology Files,” Winnipeg Elite Study, G. Friesen Fonds, Mss 154, Box 15, File 16, University of Manitoba Archives]

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 13 May 2024

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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