Apart from his extraordinary achievements at the Supreme Court of Canada, Marvin Storrow is a senior litigation partner practicing a diverse realm of law. An ardent author and speaker, he contributes greatly to the knowledge of a wide range of legal matters and concerns.
He served or serves 23 professional associations provincially, nationally and internationally. A lifetime supporter of Legal Aid, early in Marvin’s career a chairman of the Legal Aid Society said he completed one out of every seven legal aid cases in B.C.
A community leader, Marvin continues to volunteer and offer services pro bono. He and his family support educational endowments for First Nations people and other learners at several post-secondary institutions.
His 15 awards include: the Milvain Award to a leading Canadian barrister; Goyer Award for exceptional contributions to law in B.C.; four lifetime achievement awards; and five honorary degrees.
Marvin’s milestone cases and judgments remain highly studied and quoted foundational references for constitutional protection to Aboriginal rights. Sparrow (1990) was the first case to consider the scope of protection accorded to Aboriginal rights under the Constitution Act, 1982. Guerin (1984) influenced both Aboriginal and fiduciary law. The late chief justice Lance Finch of the B.C. Court of Appeal said, “It is difficult more than 20 years after the event to comprehend the ability, tenacity, courage and conviction necessary to take this case from an initial, casual conversation with Chief Delbert Guerin, all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada and ultimate success. Marvin has all those qualities and more. It is of such lawyers, that our legal history is made.”
Delgamuukw (1997) was the first Supreme Court of Canada case to confirm the nature and scope of Aboriginal title rights in Canada. Thomas Woods, one of the 40 panelists wrote that Marvin’s successes in this area “fundamentally altered the legal and political landscape in Canada.”
Anna Fung, a past president of the Law Society of BC believes Marvin’s accomplishments contributed to a wider push to recognize Indigenous rights and title across Canada. “It would be fair to say that the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was made possible at least in part due to the ground-breaking achievement that Storrow accomplished in gaining legal acceptance of Aboriginal rights and title in Canada over the past several decades.”
