Francis William Orde Morton

Orde Morton was born in Winnipeg in 1940, the elder son of William Lewis Morton the historian and Guinevere Margaret “Peggy” Morton née Orde. He was educated at Winnipeg schools and at the Universities of Manitoba and Toronto. In 1962 he was chosen as the Manitoba Rhodes Scholar, as his father had been, and studied at St. John’s College Oxford. In 1964 he joined the Canadian Department of External Affairs and in 1965 was posted to the Canadian Embassy in Brazil, where he served in Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.

In 1969 Orde was informed that he would be dismissed from External Affairs on the ground that his being gay made him a security risk. In 1970 he returned to Oxford at St. Antony’s College on a Canada Council doctoral fellowship, and in 1974 completed a doctorate with a thesis on Brazilian history at the time of Independence. He taught Latin American history at the University of Calgary and at the Universidad Federal Fluminense in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1978 he joined Brascan Limited, today Brookfield, and in 1989 moved to Public Affairs at the Bank of Montreal, where he worked in editorial services, principally in speech writing, and in government relations. He became a vice-president of the Bank in 1996 and retired in 2000. He was subsequently hired by the Bank of Montreal to reorganize its archive and art collection. He also worked as a freelance writer for clients including Barclays PLC, as well as the Royal Bank of Canada and Atomic Energy of Canada.

In November 2017, Orde Morton was included by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the apology made to the Canadian civil and military public servants who had been dismissed for their sexual orientation. At the request of the lawyers managing the major class action suit he wrote an affidavit for the Federal Court of Canada outlining the history of discrimination against sexual minorities and containing a brief statement of his own case. He subsequently served as a member of the LGBT Advisory Council at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights.

In 2015 Orde Morton privately published “Marvelous City”, the first history of the city of Rio de Janeiro in English. He subsequently published with Heartland Associates Winnipeg Made Me, a memoir of growing up in Winnipeg in 1940-1960. He had also published articles in peer-reviewed academic journals and lectured at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto. He held the Canadian Securities Certificate with honours. Orde Morton was active in voluntary organizations including the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce of which he served as president, Solar Stage Lunchtime Theatre, and the Couchiching Institute of Public Affairs. He supported human rights and humanitarian organizations including Egale Canada and the Canadian-Ukrainian Foundation. He was an honorary citizen of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

Orde is survived by his sister, Anne Morton of Winnipeg, by George his life partner since 1995, and by cousins in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Germany. He was exceptionally fortunate in his relatives, and also in his friends in five continents, who were a present and invaluable help in times of trouble. To all of them he leaves his gratitude and warmest thanks.

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