‘Justice was in his DNA’: Joe Arvay remembered as champion of legal rights

Tributes are pouring in for legendary human rights lawyer Joseph Arvay, who passed away over the weekend at the age of 71.

Arvay took over 75 cases to the Supreme Court of Canada, many of them focused on human rights.

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B.C. Attorney General David Eby said Arvay devoted thousands of hours of his time to defending the rights of people on the margins and made our country a better place.

Arvay successfully argued cases in the Supreme Court for same-sex marriage benefits, LGBTQ rights, the right to assisted dying and censorship issues, Eby added.

Murray Rankin, B.C.’s Indigenous relations and reconciliation minister, described Arvay as a “giant of Canadian law.”

“Joe’s passion for justice was in his DNA,” he told the legislature on Tuesday. “He didn’t care whether there was case law with him or against him.”

“He believed that if he worked hard enough and long enough, he’d find a way. He usually did, and often all of this without fees.”

Rankin says Arvay was like a brother to him and the bravest person he ever knew.

— With files from The Canadian Press