Obituary: Thomas Gove, pioneering B.C. judge left indelible mark on justice system

Vancouver’s Thomas Gove spent decades sitting in judgment of people at some of the lowest points of their lives — vulnerable children, troubled families and people caught in cycles of addiction, poverty and crime.

But those who knew the longtime B.C. judge say he never lost sight of the person behind each case.

That compassion became the thread running through a career that helped reshape how B.C.’s justice system dealt with children, families and people struggling with addiction and mental illness.

The retired provincial court judge died of heart failure Sept. 10 at Vancouver General Hospital. He was 79.

Gove’s family described him as a lifelong thinker and learner, an optimist who believed in people’s innate potential but was devastated by injustice.

“He had a kind and generous heart,” his family said in an obituary Friday in The Vancouver Sun.

His cousin Aaron Chapman, Gove was his godfather, posted Friday on social media he was still struggling to process the loss.

“It was a fine and full life well lived,” Chapman said. “But still hard to process he won’t be around for a laugh, or some of that unbeatable Gove counsel I’d gotten used to.”

I’m very saddened to report the passing of my cousin Hon. Thomas Gove. Tom had a storied career in the law here in British Columbia—especially with the landmark Gove Inquiry, and the Community Court. He’ll be very missed. https://t.co/ioP2W1YGTq

Gove, who was born in Vancouver, studied commerce and law at the University of B.C. before being called to the B.C. bar in 1974.

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He spent 16 years as a lawyer, specializing in family, child welfare and criminal law. He was among the first lawyers in B.C. to act as a child advocate and pioneered mediation and in family and child-custody cases.

Four years later, Gove was given one of the most difficult assignments of his career.

He led an inquiry into the death of five-year-old Matthew Vaudreuil, who died following years of neglect by his mother, despite being under the watch of dozens of social workers.