The Honorable Brooke Claxton, D.C.M., K.C., B.C.L., LL.D. (b. Montreal 1898, d. 1960) was a Canadian veteran of World War I, federal Minister of Health and Welfare and Minister of National Defence. {{Canadian City/Disable Field={{{Disable Motto Link}}}}} Motto: Concordia Salus (Salvation through harmony) Ville de Montréal, Québec, Canada Location. ... 1898 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

He received his early education at Lower Canada College. He was a gifted student and entered McGill University in September 1915 after completing grade 11. After a year at University he left McGill in 1916 and enlisted with the Victoria Rifles of Canada. He served overseas with the Royal Canadian Artillery and saw action, which experience marked him profoundly. He was promoted to the rank of Battery Sergeant-Major in the field and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. McGill University is a publicly funded, research-intensive, non-denominational, co-educational university located in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... 1916 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... Source: Veterans Affairs Canada The Distinguished Conduct Medal was (until 1993) a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army, and formerly also to personnel of the armies of other Commonwealth countries, below the rank of Warrant Officer, for conspicuous bravery in the battlefield. ...

Returning to Canada after the War Brooke Claxton completed his course at McGill, graduating with honours in Law. He practised his profession in Montreal. In 1939 he was created a King's Counsel. He had an academic post at McGill where he was associate professor of commercial law until 1944. 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Queens Counsel ( postnominal QC), during the reign of a male Sovereign known as Kings Counsel (KC), are barristers or, in Scotland, advocates appointed by patent to be one of Her Majestys Counsel learned in the law. They do not constitute a separate order or degree of lawyers. ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Brook Claxton was active in community service. He served as President of the Canadian Club of Montreal, Chairman of the Montreal branch of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Chairman of the Board of Governors of Lower Canada College from 1925 until 1934, and was a graduate fellow of the Corporation of McGill University. The burgeoning nationalism after World War I led Brooke Claxton to become involved in associations such as the Canadian League and the League of Nations Society. He was also an intervenor on behalf of the federal government in the constitutional issue concerning jurisdiction over radio broadcasting. He was active in laying the foundations for the establishment of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the First World War at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. ... The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known by the abbreviation CBC, is Canadas government-owned radio and television service. ...

His political career began in the general election of 1940 when he was first elected to the House of Commons as Liberal Member for the constituency of St. Lawrence-St. George, Montreal. He was re-elected in 1945 and again in 1949. He was appointed in 1943 as Parliamentary Assistant to the Prime Minister. He served in the federal Liberal cabinets of Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent. In 1944 he was named the first Minister of the newly created Department of National Health and Welfare (1944-46). He was responsible for the organization of the Department and implementation of the administration system for the universal Family Allowances social welfare scheme. In 1946 Brooke Claxton became Minister of National Defence in which portfolio he served until 1954. The Prime Minister of Canada, the head of the Canadian government, is usually the leader of the political party with the most seats in the Canadian House of Commons. ... William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC , LL.B, Ph. ... Louis Stephen St. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1947 he headed the Canadian delegation to the British Commonwealth Conference on Japan held in Australia. As vice-chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Newfoundland, in 1949 he signed the terms of union on behalf of Canada. He represented Canada at the meetings of the Defence Committee under the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, Paris and the Hague. As Minister of National Defence he guided post-war demobilization, helped shape Canadian Cold War foreign policy, and presided over Canada’s participation in the Korean War. Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states, most of which were once governed by the United Kingdom and are its former colonies. ... Canadian Confederation, or the Confederation of Canada, was the process that ultimately brought together a union among the provinces, colonies and territories of British North America to form the Dominion of Canada, a Dominion of the British Empire, which today is a federal nation state simply known as Canada. ... The North Atlantic Treaty is the treaty that brought NATO into existence, signed in Washington, DC on April 4, 1949. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The Cold War was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and its allies (roughly speaking, NATO members) and the Soviet Union and its allied (roughly speaking, Warsaw Pact members), until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. ... The Korean War (Korean: 한국전쟁), from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea. ...

In 1954 he retired from politics, but continued to play an important role in the creation of the Canada Council. He was just sixty-one when he died. At his death in 1960, The Montreal Gazette wrote that the Honourable Brooke Claxton “faced death … with unbreakable courage.” He astounded associates by working hard right to the end and “never relaxing his grip.” The Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, was introduced by Parliament in 1957. ...

He was honoured by the University of Saskatchewan with the degree of Doctor of Laws at its Golden Jubilee Convocation in 1959. The University of Saskatchewan (U of S) is the largest education institution in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. ...

• List of Canadian Ministers of National Defence