Judge was driven by compassion
Wood remembered as lawyer who used ‘ self- deprecating touch’ to charm juries
VICTORIA — Provincial court Judge Josiah Wood showed his drive for the legal profession early in what would become a remarkable career fuelled by his compassion for people who needed help.
Wood, who worked in Duncan after stints at two higher levels of court, died Monday after a short bout with pancreatic cancer. He was 73.
Wood graduated from the University of B. C. law school in 1967 along with former attorney general and judge Wally Oppal.
“Joe was a civil libertarian,” Oppal said of his good friend. “He defended people who needed to be defended and he cared for people who were poor.”
Wood was an articling student for former lawyer Bill Deverell.
“A supremely skilled trial lawyer who charmed juries not by being a wily courtroom thespian but by being true to himself, honest, straightforward and caring, with a quick wit and gentle, self- deprecating touch,” Deverell, now a bestselling author, said in an email.
Wood acted as defence lawyer for those charged in the Gastown Riot of Aug. 7, 1971. Vancouver police, under the direction of then- mayor Tom Campbell, clashed with about 2,000 youth supporting the legalization of marijuana. About 80 protesters were arrested and 38 were charged. Many complained police used excessive force.
“Mayor Tom Campbell decided these hippies were enemies of the state and he invoked the War Measures Act where loitering was to be an offence,” Oppal said.
He defended people who needed to be defended and he cared for people who were poor. WALLY OPPAL FORMER B. C. ATTORNEY GENERAL
Wood’s talent was noted by colleagues, and he was named to the B. C. Supreme Court bench in 1983. In 1989, he was appointed to the B. C. Court of Appeal — the province’s highest court — and stayed there until 1996, when he decided to return to private practice.
But the rules of the Vancouver law firm would have forced Wood to retire earlier than he wanted, so he applied for a job as a provincial court judge and was assigned to Duncan.
Wood was the only provincial court judge with a resume that included working at two higher levels of the B. C. judiciary.
His reasons for returning to court, and the modest pay of a provincial court judge, lay in his empathy for people who needed help, Oppal said.
That’s what led him to start an aboriginal court in Duncan to handle the unique challenges faced by aboriginal people in the court system.
Robert Bauman, chief justice of B. C., said Wood’s accomplishments were extraordinary.
“Judge Wood combined exceptional legal and intellectual skills with an exceedingly strong sense of compassion and humanity,” Bauman said in a statement. “As a judge, Joe Wood has touched and enriched the lives of many citizens and communities in British Columbia. Our court mourns his passing.”
Oppal said Wood often commented that he enjoyed provincial court “because it’s really the court of the people.”
When, just two weeks ago, Wood learned he had terminal cancer, he phoned Oppal. “He said, ‘ I’m going to go start straightening out my affairs.’ Then he said, ‘ I’ve got two judgments I need to put out.’ That’s typical Joe.”’
“I said, ‘ Joe, never mind your judgments — take care of your health.’ That was the last conversation I had with him.”
Wood didn’t want a “fuss,” so no memorial service has been planned, Oppal said.
Oppal said he’ll remember Wood “as a true friend, someone who was always there and someone who gave so much of himself to the province and the country.”