Lawyer.
Born at Timmins, Ontario on 20 January 1947 to Myrtle Reid (1921-2012) and Victor Francis Savino (?-2003), he graduated from Carlton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, later received a law degree from the University of Saskatchewan, and then a Masters of Law from Dalhousie University. While working on his master’s degree, he met Roland Penner, Manitoba’s former Attorney-General, in 1972. He impressed Penner with his intelligence and ideology and was invited by Penner to join the Winnipeg law firm of Zuken, Penner and Larsen. After being called to the Manitoba Bar, he became an associate and eventually a partner in the firm.
An active member of the New Democratic Party, he was a candidate for the Fort Rouge constituency in a Manitoba provincial byelection in 1979, losing to the Liberal candidate by a narrow margin. He was a voracious reader, a major editorial contributor to Indigenous newspapers, and was well known and respected across Canada. He achieved renown as a skilled negotiator and for his contributions to the Indigenous community. His goal was to develop a boutique legal practice specializing in Indigenous law. He eventually fell on hard times due to alcoholism and drug abuse and was disbarred in 2005 because of professional misconduct, never fully realizing his professional vision.
Justice Murray Sinclair worked with Savino in the early days. “We were members of the left-leaning lawyers group. We were just a bunch of lawyers who had a social conscience.” Sinclair remembers the younger Savino as a “smart, standup guy, energetic … and very, very bright. He had a big picture of himself and his career and where he wanted to be.”
Savino died at Winnipeg on 22 June 2007.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 24 June 2007.
“The tragedy of Vic Savino” by Lindor Reynolds, Winnipeg Free Press, 7 July 2007.
“Victor Steven Savino,” Christie Carmichael Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 27 October 2024
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