E.D. Bayda

Location: Saskatchewan | Profession: Law/Politics

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E.D. Bayda at age 20

E.D. Bayda was born in a small Ukrainian town in south-eastern Saskatchewan. He got through high school, teaching himself Latin and French with only the help of a textbook. After graduating from law school, he articled, worked throughout the province and was eventually appointed to the Court of Appeals. He is now the Chief Justice of Saskatchewan.

E.D. Bayda now

What They Said

“My Ukrainian background had to do with my parents being hardworking people who wanted their kids to get ahead,” says Ed Bayda. “That helped. As far as being of Ukrainian [descent and if] that gave me a leg up, the answer is, no. If anything it was a leg down!”

After finishing second in his class at the University of Saskatchewan law school, Ed had a fairly wide choice of where to article. Some of his classmates went to Alberta, others went east. He decided to stay in province. “I liked it here,” he says. He moved to Regina on his father’s advice. Apparently, the large extended Bayda family was spread throughout the Saskatoon area and if the 21 year old stayed put, he’d be doing pro bono cases his entire life.”

So he set out to Regina to article for one of the best firms around. MacPherson Leslie & Tarnum. It was 1952: the postwar economy was strong; oil had been discovered in Saskatchewan; and besides, “there weren’t that many of us who [had been] born in the 30s, so there weren’t that many people to occupy the positions available to them.”

While at the firm, he learned many valuable lessons from the senior partners (that “law was a noble profession”, that one should never “practice law as a business” and other once-profound statements that may sound trite to our ears) but still decided, having been called to the bar, to move elsewhere. He took up in a miniscule firm in the town of Yorkton. Once again his morals guided him. Not only did he like the idea of working for a smaller less-known establishment, not only did he have the adventurous spirit to blaze a new trail… they also offered him $25 more a month! The choice was simple.”

The practice in Yorkton proved to be the right choice. The size allowed the young lawyer to experience every side of the law, from drafting wills to litigating criminal charges in court. It’s a diverse experience that now days would be very difficult to come by, due to the specialization of firms everywhere.

After two years in Yorkton, Ed was called back to Regina to work for a man by the name of Fred Johnson. Something sparked and their personalities matched perfectly. Again we see the mixture of competitiveness with a communal ethos. “We worked hard. We worked every night. We’d work till 10 or 11 o’clock.” But there was more to Johnson’s practice. “I remember he charged someone $15 for putting through a house deal. He said, It’s just a prats for land. It’s not very much. Furthermore, they’re poor, they can’t pay. I said, In that case, don’t charge him anything. – No, no. If we didn’t charge him anything, he’d think we were treating him as a charity case. You don’t do that. He has dignity… But that was Fred Johnson.”