Colonel the Honourable Justice John Andrew Hope (1890‒1954)
Location:
In front of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital in Perth
Themes:
Buildings and structures, Education, Organizations, People, Politics and law, War and conflict
Plaque text:
John Andrew Hope served in the First World War and was wounded twice. After his return to Perth in 1919, he set his focus on honouring those who had made the “supreme sacrifice” and became local president of the Great War Veterans Association. Instead of building a monument to remember the fallen, Hope provided leadership and momentum by bringing together community groups and officials to fund a 20-bed memorial hospital, complete with operating theatre and maternity ward, in the former Victoria Hall. On March 8, 1923, as its first president, Hope opened the door to Perth’s Great War Memorial Hospital, which provided care to returning soldiers and the broader region. It filled a vital community need through a great act of remembrance. Hope went on to be appointed King’s Counsel in 1929, a judge of the High Court and later the Court of Appeal. In 1945, he became a governor of the University of Toronto and chair of Ontario’s Royal Commission on Education, which produced The Hope Report, a foundational step in modernizing education in Ontario. Hope was a proud veteran from Perth whose life and legacy reflect exceptional service to his community, province and country.
