Date Published:
March 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

John Skirving Ewart

Ewart, John Skirving (1849-1933), lawyer and author, was born at Toronto, Ontario, on August 11, 1849, the son of Thomas Ewart and Catherine Seaton Skirving. He was educated at Upper Canada College and at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, and was called to the bar in 1871 (Q.C., 1884). He practised law in Winnipeg from 1882 to 1904; and he took a prominent part in the controversy over separate schools in Manitoba. In 1904 he removed to Ottawa, and he became an outstanding counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In his later years, he became famous as an advocate of the independence of Canada . He died at Ottawa on February 21, 1933. In addition to a number of legal works, he was the author of The kingdom of Canada, Imperial federation, The Colonial Conference, The Alaska boundary, and other essays (Toronto, 1908), John A. Macdonald and the Canadian flag (Toronto, 1908), Canadian independence (Toronto, 1911), The roots and causes of the wars (1914-1918) (2 vols., New York, 1925), and two series of brochures, The Kingdom papers, nos. 1-19 (Ottawa, 1911-4), and The independence papers (Ottawa, 2 vols., 1925-30).

See the Controversy between J. S. Ewart and J. Castell Hopkins on the role of Britain in Canada (1919)

Source: W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 305.