Honorary degree citation - Saul Hayes*

By: I.L. Campbell, June 1970

Mr. Chancellor:

I have the honour to present to you Mr. Saul Hayes, Q.C., a most distinguished servant and leader of the Canadian Jewish community.

He is a graduate of McGill University in economics and law and practiced law until 1940 when he was appointed Executive Director of the United Jewish Refugee and War Relief Agencies. Two years later, he became Executive Director of the Canadian Jewish Congress. In 1944 he was selected to be the spokesman for world Jewry before the Council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. He represented the Jews of Canada at the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and at the Paris Peace Conference of 1946. Following the war, he was active in numerous projects to reunite Jews with their families and was instrumental in bringing some 28,000 Jewish refugees and 1,100 orphans to this country. He has frequently attended meetings of the German Claims Conference, the World Jewish Congress, and the Conference of Jewish Organ¬izations. In addition to appearing before a great many governmental commissions and inquiries, he was a member of the Special Commission of the Ministry of Justice on Hate Propaganda. Since 1954, he has been Executive Vice President of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Mr. Hayes has lectured at McGill University. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Canadian Welfare Council and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.

Mr. Chancellor, I present to you on behalf of the University Council and by authority of the Board of Governors, Mr. Saul Hayes, a distinguished Canadian, a devoted servant of the Jewish Community, a man of deep social conscience, that you may confer on him the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

* deceased