Allmand, Warren, 1932-2016 : Warren Allmand was born in Montreal in 1932. He attended school in a number of cities, and pursued university studies at Loyola College, St. Francis-Xavier University, McGill and the University of Paris. He was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1958 and practiced law until 1965. He was very active in a number of associations in the Notre Dame de Grace area of Montreal, as well as on the executive of Montreal and national law associations.
Past president of the Notre Dame de Grace Young Liberal Association, he stood as a Liberal candidate in that riding in the General Federal Election of 1965. He was successful, and defended that seat for the Liberals through eight more successive election campaigns (1968, 1972, 1974, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1993), sitting in Parliament until the General Federal Election of 1997.
Once an MP, he became very interested in international Liberalism, becoming Chairman of the Canadian World Federalist Parliamentary Association and a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the NATO Parliamentary Association. He attended the UN General Assembly as observer in 1967, 1968 and 1969, as well a parliamentary conferences in Europe.
He held a number of ministerial portfolios including Solicitor-General of Canada (1972-1976), Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1976-1977), and Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs (1977-1979). Allmand publicly challenged Prime Minister Trudeau in a number of areas, including Indian policy, French-language policy, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Following the return of the Liberals to power in 1980, Allmand never again served in Cabinet.
During his three decades and more in Parliament, Allmand sat on countless Parliamentary Committees and did serve as the official Party Critic in a number of areas after the Liberal defeat of 1984, specifically Employment (1980-1984), Arms Control and Disarmament (1990-1992), Official Languages (1990-1992), and Immigration (1992-1993).
While MP during the 1980s, Allmand became very active in international Parliamentarianism, believing that organized parliamentarians could be a force for good, especially in the pursuit of international human rights in third world countries, and especially in Central and Latin America, plagued then by right-wing authoritarian governments. In the latter 1980s and early 1990s, Allmand also continued his struggle on behalf of Canadian unity, speaking his mind on Meech Lake, the Parti Quebecois and the Quebec Referendum.
Keeping with this commitment to human rights abroad, after his retirement from politics Allmand became very active in the World Federalist Movement and in the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. He closed out his political career as a Montreal City Councillor.
Warren Allmand died 7 December 2016.
