118 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 79 PART 1 JANUARY 2021
The Honourable Mr. Justice Ian Caldwell
Ian Wilson Caldwell was sworn in as a judge of the
Supreme Court of British Columbia on September 11,
2020, capping more than 15 years of service as a master
of the court. The ceremony, held in New Westminster,
where Ian will sit, was a warm and collegial
(albeit socially distanced) affair well attended by
family, friends and colleagues, some in the latter category
participating by teleconference, a medium now familiar to us all.
Although Ian, his wife Robin and their children Gideon, Bronwyn,
Bethany and Micah live in rural Chilliwack, Ian has always had and retains
a connection to New Westminster, where he was born on May 10, 1957, in
the former St. Mary’s Hospital, to George Edward (Ted) Caldwell, an
accountant, and Louise (formerly Wilson), a clerk at the New Westminster
courthouse and Land Registry Office. A second son, Ross, arrived the following
year.
The family lived in Burnaby, where Ian attended Morley and Edmonds
schools before moving on to Burnaby South for his final two years. He
played golf on the school team and fondly remembers a school trip to Pebble
Beach, where he played “The Course” ($22 green fee in 1975!). Ian also
played baseball and hockey but soon focused on the latter, starting out on
right wing and defence but playing entirely in goal starting in 1968 or so.
Those of you familiar with the game of hockey may share my opinion that
goalies tend to be, well, temperamentally “different”. Some talk to their goalposts
(Patrick Roy), some follow rigid and sometimes bizarre pre-game rituals
(almost all of them) and you have all witnessed the choreography that
follows a stoppage in play (sweeping the crease, taking a drink from the
water bottle and placing it in precisely the right spot on top of the net) and,
of course, in Ken Dryden’s case, adopting a characteristic pose. Ian’s particular
rituals were always dressing from left to right, speaking to his goalposts
before each game and thanking them after they made a “save”. For all that,
Ian excelled in goal and went on to play at the juvenile and junior levels
before suffering a career-ending eye injury at the age of 17. Ian was soon
back on the ice, but this time as a referee, a teenager officiating matches up
to the senior level, often paired with Dave Frankel. Ian allows, a little
darkly, that following his injury, he had the perfect rejoinder (“you’re half
right”) to fans who criticized his visual acuity.