Thomas Beckett led campaign to halt highway through Dundas Valley in 1967
Thomas Beckett was a lawyer, judge, municipal councillor, Liberal candidate and one of the founders of the area’s first conservation authority, Spencer Creek, in 1958. It eventually became the Hamilton Conservation Authority and he served as its first chair from 196670.
But perhaps his finest hour was when he led opposition to the building of a four-lane highway through the Dundas Valley in 1967. It was proposed to run from Peters Corners to the interchange of Mohawk Road and Highway 403.
Beckett — who died Aug. 23 at age 97 — recounted in his 2018 autobiography “My Path to the Dundas Valley” how he rallied opposition to “this grossly stupid government mistake.” It helped lead to backing from a prominent environmental group and a meeting with then-premier John Robarts.
“As we proceeded into his office with George Gomme, the minister of highways, along and before sitting down, premier Robarts said to his minister, ‘George, is there anyone left in the province of Ontario who is still in favour of this highway?’ I knew at that moment we had won: The highway would not be built.”
Beckett later had a trail in the valley named after him in 1973, and a forest in 1998.
“Most people don’t get honoured like this until they’re dead because as long as you’re alive, you’re still capable of disgracing yourself,” Beckett quipped at the 1998 ceremony. Beckett, named a Queen’s Counsel in 1974, was inducted into the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction in 1999.
Beckett became a family court judge in1984 (he became a Superior Court judge in 1995) and heard the bizarre case against a mother who was alleged to have abused her two daughters through Satanic rituals. It ran for 150 days between 1985 and 1987 and was Canada’s longest child welfare hearing. There were 27 witnesses, 86 exhibits and 15,000 pages of testimony. It was the subject of the book “Ritual Abuse” by journalist Kevin Marron.
Beckett ruled the two girls, both under eight, had been sexually abused by the mother, father and mother’s boyfriend, but he made no ruling on the Satanic involvement. The woman lost custody of the girls, plus a third born during the hearing.
Beckett’s handling of the sensitive case generally impressed Hamilton’s legal community. John Harper, lawyer for the Children’s Aid Society, said, “Given the complexities and intensity of emotions at times, I felt Judge Beckett handled the case extremely well.”
Friend Brian Heller said “there was something special” about Beckett.
“He was kind, engaging, thoughtful, hilarious at times,” he said on social media. “Tom leaves behind a good name, a wonderful reputation and a life of achievements.”
Beckett was born Dec. 23, 1925, in Riverside (now part of Windsor), the son of notable architect Harold Beckett and his wife, Josephine. He graduated from Walkerville High School in 1945 and from the University of Toronto law school in 1950. He was called to the bar in 1952, the same year he went to work in Hamilton.
He moved to Ancaster Township and got elected to council in 1956. He served for nine years, including as deputy reeve and reeve. He was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate against Tory Lincoln Alexander in the 1968 federal election, and ran unsuccessfully for the provincial Liberals in Wentworth North in 1971 and 1977.
After he stepped down from council, he remained its representative on the conservation authority. But, he got in a huge row with council over his criticism of a $10-million sewer project and was fired in June 1972. The authority was going to fight the township, but Beckett resigned two months later with some parting shots.
“The right to speak only when agreeing with government is no is no right at all,” Beckett said.
Beckett is survived by his wife, Meralee, children, John and MaryJo, 10 grandchildren, 14 greatgrandchildren and three stepchildren. He is also survived by his first wife, Joan. He was predeceased by his daughter, Elizabeth.