Black History Month
Every February, Canadians across the country are invited to honour the legacy of Black Canadians and their communities.
Here, at the Legal Archives Society of Alberta, we are acknowledging the transformative work of Black lawyers and judges, past and present, whose achievements and contributions to their communities make Alberta the culturally diverse, compassionate, and prosperous province it is today.
Lionel Locksley Jones
Lionel Locksley Jones was born in Edmonton on August 21, 1938.
While attending the University of Alberta, he received a BA in Physical Education in 1960 followed by an LLB in 1963. Jones was Called to the Alberta Bar on June 9, 1964. He was the first Black man, and second Black person, to be admitted to the Law Society of Alberta.
Jones spent his entire career in public service, first as a Legislative Draftsman from 1966 to 1969. From 1969 to 1972, he was a Crown Prosecutor in the Office of the Attorney General of Alberta. In 1972, he moved to the Department of Justice for the Government of Canada where he served as a Senior Crown Counsel until his appointment to the Provincial Court of Alberta in 1977.
With his appointment to the Provincial Court, Jones became the first Canadian-born Black person to sit on the Bench in Canada. In 1995, he became the first Black person appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta and remained with that Court until his retirement in 2001.
He also taught as a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta, and for the Law Enforcement Program at MacEwan University.
In 1990, the National Black Coalition of Canada presented Jones with the Jamie Bell Award for “outstanding courage and achievement against challenging odds.” He was the first person to receive this distinction.
Lionel Jones died on October 19, 2016 at the age of 78.
In November 2021, former Court of Appeal Justice, Anne Russell, who was a classmate of Jones, initiated an endowment at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law called the Lionel Jones Memorial Endowment in Law. It will go to support law students who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Colour.
Jones’ career and Endowment leave behind a legacy that continues to inspire the current and next generation of Black lawyers and judges in Alberta.
