Mr Braithwaite was a leading civil liberties lawyer who came to prominence by campaigning for an end to the segregation of black children in Ontario’s schools, reports the Toronto Star newspaper.
He was the son of West Indian immigrants to Canada and he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in the latter part of the Second World War, serving with No6 (RCAF) Group Bomber Command based in northern England.
After the war, he attended both Harvard Law School in the US and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University back in Canada.
The country’s consumer services minister, Margaret Best, said she was ‘deeply saddened’ by Mr Braithwaite’s death. ‘The legacy of his contribution to the province is something all Ontarians can be proud of,’ she said. Until recently, Mr Braithwaite continued to work part time at his law firm. Commenting on his civil rights campaigning, the Star quoted Rosemary Sadlier of the Ontario Black History Society: ‘We’ve lost a great activist. Maybe in a way he was our Martin Luther King.’
He was the son of West Indian immigrants to Canada and he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in the latter part of the Second World War, serving with No6 (RCAF) Group Bomber Command based in northern England.
After the war, he attended both Harvard Law School in the US and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University back in Canada.
The country’s consumer services minister, Margaret Best, said she was ‘deeply saddened’ by Mr Braithwaite’s death. ‘The legacy of his contribution to the province is something all Ontarians can be proud of,’ she said. Until recently, Mr Braithwaite continued to work part time at his law firm. Commenting on his civil rights campaigning, the Star quoted Rosemary Sadlier of the Ontario Black History Society: ‘We’ve lost a great activist. Maybe in a way he was our Martin Luther King.’
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