THE ADVOCATE 581
VOL. 79 PART 4 JULY 2021
dure conducted at Vancouver General Hospital. Justice required a remedy,
but the law, in the form of the Limitation Act, completely shut the door. The
time for bringing an action founded on negligence had long expired. After
a week spent at the UBC law library, Tom came up with an argument
founded on the “tort of abandonment”, a cause of action not contemplated
by the Limitation Act. This was just the beginning of a long, hard-fought battle,
ending in a settlement on the eve of a jury trial.
During this second phase of Tom’s career at the bar, he was engaged in a
number of cases that explored the boundaries of the Charter. In many of
these cases, he was able to draw on a team of able associates: his daughter
Erin, Don Rosenbloom, Gary Nelson, Ron Shulman, Margie Vanderkruyk,
Jim Aldridge and Marcus Bartley.
Although Tom is best known for his Aboriginal rights cases, he was a generalist
as counsel and as a person. He firmly believed that young lawyers
going into the Aboriginal rights field should first get a good grounding in
other areas of the law so as to bring concepts from other fields into play in
Aboriginal cases. It tends to be forgotten that the Aboriginal rights protected
by s. 35 are rights recognized by the common law, not a separate body of
law. His advice to young lawyers was to find articles at one of the big firms,
not the Aboriginal law boutiques, even though his instinct always propelled
him to practise alone or in a small firm.
Tom led a happy and well-balanced life. At his peak, he would work every
day and into the evenings, but would take the time to go for a walk, read a
book or have a meal and a glass of wine at a restaurant with Bev. He read
Shakespeare’s plays throughout his life for enjoyment and inspiration. The
Bard’s timeless observations of the human condition matched his own perception
of life, being an hour upon the stage buffeted by forces beyond our
control. Tom was a faithful supporter of Vancouver’s Shakespearean company,
Bard on the Beach, for many years. He played tennis for 40 years with
a dedicated group of friends at the Jericho Hill Tennis Club.
But foremost for Tom was his family: his beloved wife, Bev (they met and
fell in love when students at UBC and were married in 1955, spending 65
happy years together); his daughter, Erin (Elliot Poll), a lawyer who now
works for the Law Society; his son, David, an artist; and his three grand-
children. They will miss him terribly.
The loss to the legal community is profound. As busy as he was, Tom was
always ready to contribute to professional causes and events. At the pageant
held in the Law Courts Inn in 2015 to celebrate the octocentenary of the
Magna Carta, he played the role of Baron Berger wagging a finger at King
John (David Hay, Q.C.). The play was written by Bruce Fraser, Q.C., and