Douglas Elliott delighted the audience with the telling of his life’s journey at the Elliot Lake Historical Society on Feb. 19.
The recently inducted member of The Order of Canada, local lawyer R. Douglas Elliott, born in Toronto and raised in Elliot Lake, shared many of the highlights of his life and career with a large audience at the Elliot Lake Secondary School.
Wearing a small lapel pin in the shape of a snowflake, Elliott said he hasn’t received his actual medal, yet, as they are presented at a special investiture ceremony when the Governor General of Canada pins the medal to the lapel of the newly inducted member of The Order.
“I’m hoping to attend the same time as Ryan Reynolds,” said Elliott. “He was appointed at the same time.” He added that he is also hoping his 90-year-old mother will be able to attend.
A large part of Elliott’s talk was on his family and early years. Elliott said he comes from a long line of men working in law and order. Both his grandfather and father served as police officers, as well as an uncle. Originally, his ancestors came from Scotland. He is a fifth-generation Canadian.
“The Elliott men always had to be prepared for battle,” he said, “and so we learned to love a good fight.” He said that may be why so many of his family chose to have respectable jobs in the military and the law.
His grandfather Elliott was a police officer in Muskoka and became the local sheriff. His father was a police officer in Toronto. His Uncle Dale worked in Sault Ste. Marie for the OPP.
“He told my dad about this new city, Elliot Lake, opening up and he encouraged him to escape the dangers of the big city.” In 1959, they both moved to Elliot Lake and joined the local police force.
“I have fond memories of growing up in Elliot Lake,” said Elliott. “Swimming in the summer and tobogganing in the winter.”
In school, he won several trophies for public speaking. “When people ask me why I went into law, I often joke that I found out they pay you to talk.”
“My greatest triumph (as a teen) undoubtedly was Reach for the Top. It was a teenage quiz show for high school students and I was part of Elliot Lake’s first team, along with Phil Rudiak Jr. and a few extras. We became instantly famous. We were thrilled to achieve our goal of winning the Sudbury championship. To our surprise, we went on to become Ontario champions and even made it to the semi-finals at the national championship in St. John’s, Newfoundland.”
“In spite of all that fun,” he said, “I was suffering about my sexual orientation. We lived in a very homophobic time. There wasn’t a single openly gay person in Elliot Lake and, frankly, very few openly gay people.” He spent a lot of time at the library to research homosexuality. “I realized I might be bi-sexual or homosexual.” He read that in some cases, it is just a phase that a teen is going through and he prayed that he would pass through this phase and become heterosexual.
He said, at that time, homosexuality was no longer a crime, but being openly gay could ruin his life socially. “How wrong I was.”
When attending Laurentian University in Sudbury, he realized he was gay but could not find any kind of gay community in Sudbury back then.
“I transferred to Western (university) in London.” He went dancing and dating, then “in 1976, I met a tall, dark and handsome stranger named Greg Lawrence. It was love at first sight. This year marks 17 years of marriage and 49 years of life together.”
“One of the first things Greg and I did after we met was help re-establish a university club for gay and lesbian students, called the Western Gay Association.”
Elliot said a turning point for him was in 1981 when the Toronto police force raided a gay bath house. They marched gay men outside on a cold February night clad only in towels, then smashed up the premises with crowbars. Elliott said, “I was outraged. I marched in protest in the streets risking my future career. My determination to resist tyranny and homophobia was set ablaze and has been burning brightly ever since.”
Elliott received his law degree in 1982 and went on to fight for civil and human rights on many fronts. He opened his law office in Elliot Lake in 2016.
His first award for recognition of his work came in 1994, as Lawyer of the Year, from the Advocacy Resource Centre for the Handicapped.
As part of the display of his life’s journey were some of the awards he has won: Canada’s LGBT & Chamber of Commerce 2019 Business Leadership Awards – Legacy Award; the Degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa (LLD) by the Law Society of Ontario, 2021; the Carl Mitchell Community Impact Award for the advancing the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion through extraordinary volunteer contributions to the community, 2023, from the University of Toronto Alumni Association; the Ontario Bar Association’s Robert Muir Award for Mentorship, 2023.
More recently, Elliott will be awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his contributions to the HIV/AIDS movement in Canada in March, and, as mentioned above, has been inducted as a member into The Order of Canada. The Governor General of Canada’s website states, “Douglas Elliott strives to advance and protect 2SLGBTQI+ rights under Canadian law. He is recognized for his involvement in landmark constitutional cases and class actions, notably serving as lead counsel in the LGBT Purge class action. He is also an experienced leader and volunteer with professional and non-profit organizations.”
“Not bad for a kid from Elliot Lake,” said Elliott.
The next in the Elliot Lake Historical Society’s Speaker Series will be Dave Burnett on The Mount Dufour Story, on March 12 at the ski hill.
The society is open to new members for an annual fee of $10. They meet at the Elliot Lake Secondary School cafeteria monthly. Guests are welcome. For more information contact them by email at [email protected].