Scores of friends and family will be at the St. Albert Catholic Parish this Friday to honour the life of a renowned husband, father, and human rights advocate.
John “Jack” Stafford O’Neill died with his family at his side in the Youville Home on Sept. 19. He was 98.
A 45-year resident of St. Albert, O’Neill was an extremely active volunteer and a renowned human rights advocate who served as chief commissioner of the Alberta Human Rights Commission. He was named as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2001.
O’Neill’s wife, two-time St. Albert MLA Mary O’Neill, recalled how excited she was when her husband opened the letter that told him of his appointment to the Order. When she congratulated him and said he deserved it, he replied, “But I don’t deserve this so much as the parents of disabled children.”
“He deferred the spotlight to others often rather than let it shine on himself,” Mary said.
Life of service
Born in Toronto in 1925 and raised in Montreal, O’Neill was an avid athlete as a youth, playing hockey and football prior to joining the Jesuits in 1943.
“He would tell you, to our great amusement, that he played hockey with (NHL legend) Maurice Richard!” Mary said, laughing. (It was a single, casual game.)
O’Neill earned several university degrees and worked with the poor and people with mental disabilities in Canada, India, and France, his obituary notes. He served as director of the Alberta Heart and Stroke Foundation before coming to St. Albert in the late 1970s to advise then-premier Peter Lougheed on issues such as Quebec separation and the Meech Lake Accord.
From 1980 to 1993, O’Neill served as Alberta’s deputy minister of culture, and helped develop many renowned tourist sites, including the Royal Tyrrell Museum, the Gazette’s archives show. He became chief commissioner of the Alberta Human Rights Commission in 1992, and in 1994 co-authored a report calling on the province to make sexual orientation a prohibited grounds for discrimination — a report that helped shape the Supreme Court’s famous Vriend decision on LGBTQ rights.
Retiring in 1995, O’Neill co-chaired an international conference on peace and human rights in 1998, co-founded the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights the next year, and served on the board of the Youville Home, St. Albert Arts and Heritage Foundation, and St. Albert Economic Development and Tourism (amongst other groups) thereafter.
At home, Mary said O’Neill treasured his family and kids, attending all of his son’s hockey games and all of his daughter’s figure skating sessions.
“He was a super supporter of mine politically over the eight years,” Mary said, and a loving, caring partner for 48 years of marriage.
Family friend Alan Murdock said O’Neill was a man with an elegant mind and a gentle soul, whose encyclopedic knowledge let him speak fluently on any subject.
“You didn’t want to get in an argument with him,” he added, as O’Neill was very persuasive.
Mary said O’Neill loved St. Albert and its trails, and would often meet with friends at McDonald’s for coffee.
Murdock said he would remember O’Neill as an outstanding Canadian.
“I think we’ve lost an extraordinary citizen for Alberta.”
O’Neill is survived by his sister Claire, wife Mary, son Tim, daughter Jacqueline, and three grandchildren.
A funeral mass will be held in O’Neill’s honour on Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. at the St. Albert Catholic Parish (7 St. Vital Ave.). In lieu of flowers, guests are asked to donate to their local food bank.
