Ruby died peacefully Tuesday surrounded by his family, his law firm Ruby Shiller Enenajor DiGiuseppe said. “Clay was a dedicated human rights activist, underdog champion and loving friend. Our thoughts are with his family and our entire company mourns the loss of our leader and mentor,” the company said in a tweet. Ruby, who received the Order of Canada in 2005, is described on the Governor General’s website as “a prominent criminal lawyer whose reputation extends across the country [who] dedicated his career to the promotion of justice.” But while his illustrious career may be known to many, longtime colleague Brian Shiller told CBC News some of the things he will remember most are Ruby’s sweet and loving disposition, his love of a good conversation and his his willingness to call a person if he felt it was warranted. “That part of who Clay was, right — he wasn’t going to, one, suffer fools lightly or, two, stifle his voice,” Schiller said. “It’s hard to imagine a world without him.” Ruby’s longtime colleague Brian Shiller said one of the things he will remember most about the legal giant is his sweet and caring disposition, love of a good conversation and willingness to call a person out if he felt it was warranted. . (Farrah Merali/CBC) Schiller first started working with Ruby 28 years ago and still considers him a mentor. The first time the two met, Schiller remembers being terrified to sit across from someone he saw as a legend. But once Ruby sat down, the same pleasant demeanor left Schiller “completely disarmed.” “He was a compassionate, sweet man. He was very opinionated and you wouldn’t always agree with his views… But as a friend he was very considerate,” she said.
“It was justice that really defined him”
The longest-serving bencher of the Law Society of Ontario, Ruby was a staunch advocate for justice, Schiller recalled. “It was justice that really defined him … and making sure that people in power were accountable,” he said. Ruby, she said, was very disturbed by the role of Crown attorneys in Ontario, believing they had too much power and were too often taken at their word by juries who assumed their cases were valid, she said. Ruby also frowned when Crown attorneys became judges, believing that this put them at odds. While Ruby was perhaps best known for his many high-profile cases over the past half-century or so, Schiller says his life as an activist began as early as the 60s and 70s when he provided free legal advice in Yorkville to hippies and those he believed were likely to be targeted by the law. He was even jailed briefly for his work as a civil rights activist in the US, Schiller said. Ruby cared deeply about a number of grassroots causes and volunteered his time to various human rights organizations, including PEN Canada, Human Rights Watch, and the Sierra Legal Defense Fund.
“There are mistakes and they can be huge”
During his distinguished career, he took on some of the country’s most high-profile cases, including the wrongful conviction of Guy Paul Morin, who was accused of murdering nine-year-old Christine Jessop in 1984, before being acquitted. When police identified Jessop’s killer in 2020, Ruby spoke to CBC News about the “tragedy” of wrongful convictions. WATCHES | Clayton Ruby reacts to police identifying Christine Jessop’s real killer:
Guy’s ex-lawyer Paul Morin reacts to police identification of Christine Jessop’s real killer
The National’s Adrienne Arsenault talks to Clayton Ruby, who was the defense lawyer for Guy Paul Morin, the man wrongfully convicted of murdering Christine Jessop, about police finding out the identity of her killer. “You never recover. It’s never the same,” she said. We tend to trust prosecutors who say, “Convict this man, we have enough evidence to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. “We trust the principle and I think this case has made it clear to people that there are mistakes and they can be huge and inexplicable… So there’s a more skeptical approach to prosecution claims and I think that’s healthy. It makes us all safer .” In the 1980s, Ruby represented the prominent doctor and abortion rights advocate Henry Morgenthaler to ensure that women in Canada who needed abortions could have them safely without harassment. Among his other high-profile cases, Ruby also represented Michelle Douglas, a soldier who was discharged from the military in 1989 for her sexual orientation. In 1992, shortly before her case went to trial, the military abandoned its policies barring LGBT Canadians from serving and settled the case. In 2020, Ruby spoke to CBC News after Ontario’s chief medical examiner determined the cause of death of Suleiman Fakiri in an Ontario jail cell in 2016. To date, no guards have been charged in the case. “It’s a failure of justice. And the attorney general and the attorney general have a responsibility to fix it,” Ruby told CBC News. A lawsuit filed by the family against the province and seven individual prison staff members remains before the courts. Ruby also served on the board of trustees for the medically assisted dying advocacy organization Dying with Dignity. In 1994, he represented former NDP MP Svend Robinson, who was present at the then-wrongful medically assisted death of Sue Rodriguez. Ultimately, Robinson was not charged. In a tweet on Wednesday, Robinson said he was “hurt” at the news of Ruby’s death. “A giant in the legal profession, a pillar of the progressive community and a good and decent man, a human being,” he wrote. Ruby leaves behind his wife, Supreme Court Justice Harriet Sachs, as well as two children and two grandchildren.