[4] He worked selling encyclopedias door-to-door before working in the lighting industry from 1955 to 1965, becoming vice-president of Verd-A-Ray Industries Ltd.[4] He returned to his studies and attended Sir George Williams University (B.A., 1958); Université de Montréal (M.A., English Literature); and Harvard Law School (LL.M., 1969).
He was also a visiting professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal and McGill University Faculty of Law.
He was a Commissioner of the Quebec Human Rights Commission from 1975 to 1979, and a member of the Consultative Committee of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario from 1977 to 1982.
[4] He resigned first as justice minister in late 1988, and six months later as a Member of the National Assembly in protest of the Quebec government's decision to use the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution of Canada to override a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that a law banning non-French outdoor signs was unconstitutional.
[4] He was active in a number of non-governmental organizations: Co-chair of the McGill Consortium for Human Rights Advocacy Training; Co-Chair of the McGill Middle East Programme in Civil Society and Peace Building; Governor of Tel Aviv University; President of the Association for Canadian Studies; Member of the Board of the Tolerance Foundation.