Wilbur Roy Jackett, was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 scholar, public servant, jurist, and the first chief justice of the Federal Court of Canada

Federal Court of Canada

The Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...

.

Born in Tompkins

Tompkins, Saskatchewan

Tompkins is a village in the southwestern portion of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The village is located between Maple Creek and Swift Current, on the Trans-Canada Highway. The 2006 census put the population of Tompkins at 173...

, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, Jackett moved with his family to Kamsack, Saskatchewan in 1920 at the age of eight. After graduating from high school in Kamsack, Jackett graduated with degrees in both Arts and Laws from the University of Saskatchewan

University of Saskatchewan

The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...

. In 1933 he was elected a Rhodes Scholar and went to study at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. He was called to the Bar of Saskatchewan.

From 1957 to 1960, he was the Eighth Deputy Minister

Deputy Minister (Canada)

In Canada, a deputy minister is the senior civil servant in a government department. He or she takes political direction from an elected minister. Responsibility for the department's day-to-day operations, budget and program development lie with the deputy minister...

 of the Department of Justice. In 1960 he became general counsel for the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

. He was later appointed president of the Exchequer Court of Canada. He was the First Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada

Federal Court of Canada

The Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...

 from 1971 until 1979.

On 9 May 1958, he was awarded an honorary

Honorary degree

An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...

 DCL

Doctor of Civil Law

Doctor of Civil Law is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws degrees....

 from the University of Saskatchewan. In 1981, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

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