A life on the bench
Brenner, Donald
There’s a saying in the legal profession: “Law is the only game where the best players get to sit on the bench.”
Few would argue that Donald Brenner – the retired Chief Justice of the B.C. Supreme Court, who stepped down in September after nine years in the top job – was one of the best to sit on B.C.’s judicial bench in recent memory.
Brenner is an attractive 64-year old, who exudes a quiet confidence. He has a legal mind and rationality that commands respect, but a relaxed grace and style that immediately puts you at ease. If you didn’t know what he did for a living, you might mistake him for a diplomat.
He was born in Toronto – the first child of a family brought together by World War II. Brenner’s Canadian father was a torpedo bomber pilot who flew sorties over Europe, but “has never spoken about those experiences.” His mother, who hailed from Edinburgh, was a war bride who gave birth to him soon after arriving in her new country.
The family moved to British Columbia when Brenner was only 4. For a part of his early years, a young Brenner lived on the ranch and dreamed of becoming a geologist. But when his father started an aviation company, Brenner turned his attention from the ground to the skies: at the tender age of 17, he earned his pilot licence (for fixed-wing aircraft) then his helicopter licence.
“It’s hard to say why flying is so attractive,” muses Brenner. “It is something about moving in three dimensions: leaving the earth; needing to use all your senses, to be very present.”
While still in his teens, Brenner spent several summers earning money by flying helicopters in B.C., Saskatchewan and in Central and South America – transporting men and equipment in and out of remote places.
The days were long, and the weeks even longer. “I worked dawn to dusk, seven days a week,” he recalls.
There was seldom a dull moment. “There’s an expression that flying a plane is hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror,” Brenner laughs. “But flying a helicopter is said to be hours of sheer terror with only occasional moments of boredom.”
The danger inherent in this work hit home one summer when Brenner lost a fellow helicopter pilot whose machine became entangled in hydro wires and plunged into Seton Lake.
Brenner was nearby at the time of the accident. He heard the other chopper lift off normally but then … suddenly … go silent.
“I looked and saw the bottom of the helicopter in the water with its two floats sticking up,” Brenner recalls with a change of tone in his voice. “I jumped in my machine with another worker and we flew straight over to the lake. We got a line on the helicopter, but of course it had filled with water. I tried to lift it, but I couldn’t. …We never did find his body.”
Despite this sad experience, Brenner continued to fly during the summers while going to university. He went on to become one of the youngest commercial pilots for the now defunct CP Air, eventually becoming a captain of a Boeing 737.
He could have continued his journey in the clouds, but Brenner was drawn back down to the earth by another interest he had developed while in his teens – Law.
“I loved my first year of law school,” Brenner recalls. “I was reading about real people with real problems and real cases that happened sometimes 200-300 years ago. I liked how the law helped them in solving their problems and resolving their disputes.”
After graduating, he ran his own private law practice for many years. But in the early 90s Brenner was approached to become a judge for the B.C. Supreme Court. It would mean a cut in pay, and closing down a law practice that he enjoyed.
“I loved the issues, the clients. And the salary was good too. But my mother always emphasized the importance of giving back to our community. She always said: To those to whom much is given, much is expected. ” says Brenner. “That’s why I accepted the post to the Supreme Court. It wasn’t something I aspired to do.”
In 2000 he found himself appointed to the post of chief justice.
It hasn’t been an easy job. Sometimes judges make decisions that are controversial and the resulting media furor can undermine the public’s opinion of the “justice” in the justice system.
“It’s a bit like the airline industry. Every day thousands of planes take off and land successfully, but you only hear about the ones where something seems to have gone awry” Brenner says when asked what he wants people to understand about the courts.
“Judges must make decisions based on all the evidence and the law. Even the media, who report on these cases, don’t have all the evidence in front of them that is available to the judge,” Brenner explains. “So a decision may not be popular, but it is based on all the evidence and on law.”
When Brenner is questioned about his most difficult case while on the bench, without hesitation he replies “the Blackwater vs. Plint case.”
One of the first cases of its kind in Canada, the trial centred on a group of former residents of the Alberni Indian Residential School who sought damages for abuse and wrong doing.
The events in question took place between the 1940s and 1960s. The hearing before Brenner began in 1998 and did not conclude until 2001. “The case involved 132 trial days, and 32 plaintiffs when we started,” recalls Brenner. Two of the plaintiffs died during the trial, one by suicide.
Brenner found the testimony emotionally draining. “I listened to evidence of physical and sexual abuse that went back many, many years but which involved people who were children at the time… Basically these people were telling their stories. Trying to describe what it was like as a six, or seven or eight-year-old to be forcibly taken from your family.”
Besides being subjected to repeated physical and sexual abuse, former residents described how they were not allowed contact with their siblings at the same school, and beaten for speaking their native language. Several were far from home and could not afford to return to their communities during holidays. The school became their prison.
“It was difficult hearing these plaintiffs tell their stories,” recalls Brenner who is a father of two, and who could not get out of his head the idea that these horrible incidents had happened to young children. “But my difficulty was nothing compared to what they had to go through. My job was to listen, hear the evidence and make a decision. But they are the ones who had to live it, to go through it.”
“Listening to them tell their stories was very important. That was a large part of the process. They wanted to tell their story and be heard because in their view nobody heard them for a long, long time. No one listened.”
In a precedent making decision, Brenner ruled in favour of the plaintiffs and awarded damages. His decision was ultimately upheld after various appeals that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Much of Brenner’s career involved listening to stories involving conflict. However, one of his duties as chief justice gave him the opportunity to hear about positive stories – specifically his work with Vancouver Foundation.
A little known fact is that every Chief Justice of the B.C. Supreme Court is by statute also a member of the Board of Canada’s largest community foundation. Besides being a director for almost 10 years, Brenner also served on various committees, including heading up the Arts and Culture Advisory Committee.
He believed in the work so much, Brenner and his wife Robin set up their own endowment fund that would enable them to support projects now, while also leaving a lasting legacy to the community.
So although Brenner is stepping down from the bench, and stepping off the Board of Vancouver Foundation, he is not walking away from his community. In fact, he recently signed on to practise dispute resolution with Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy LLP, a firm he spent a summer with as a law student in 1968.
Whether he’s soaring through the skies, or keeping his feet planted firmly on legal ground, one thing is certain – his family’s endowment fund will be one of many legacies to our community.
Your Comments:
February 8, 2010 An excellent write-up on a very interesting, accomplished amd likable man. It fleshes out the man, not just the name known for so many notable accomplishments. Well done! Patricia, Vancouver |
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