Rand on Insurance: Strict Reading and the Individual (Canada‪)‬

Ivan Cleveland Rand was once described as "one of the most outstanding legal minds ever to come out of the Maritimes" (1) and, so dominant was his presence at the Supreme Court of Canada, that the 1950s were described as "the Rand years." (2) His opinions in cases concerning the detention of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War and the discriminatory treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses in Quebec made him a "champion of religious freedom and civil liberties." (3) Having such a dominant and respected role in the field of civil liberties, the question naturally arises whether his contributions in other areas of the law were equally significant. In particular, having sat on twenty-two insurance appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada, (4) what did he contribute to the law of insurance? This article will answer that question. 1. THE 1940s