Loring Christie

Christie, Loring Cheney

Loring Cheney Christie, lawyer, diplomat (b at Amherst, NS 21 Jan 1885; d at New York 8 Apr 1941). Educated at Acadia and Harvard, Christie practised law in New York, then worked in the US Department of Justice, serving as acting solicitor general. In 1913 he joined the Canadian Department of External Affairs (now FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE) as its first legal adviser, and was adviser on foreign policy to Prime Ministers Borden and Meighen. He helped draft Resolution IX of the 1917 Imperial War Conference, which established a relationship of equality between Great Britain and the Dominions, and he represented Canada at the 1919 Peace Conference. Mistrusted by Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Christie resigned from government in 1923 to join a London financial house. Returning to Canada, he worked for Ontario Hydro and Beauharnois Light, Heat and Power Company, then rejoined External Affairs in 1935. An isolationist during the 1930s, Christie resisted efforts to bring Canada into a European war. In 1939 he became Canadian minister to the US.