old law school classmate, John Diefenbaker, who had just won a minority government. He was elevated to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in 1961, when he was appointed Chief Justice of Saskatchewan. The next year, Diefenbaker appointed him to the Supreme Court of Canada. Hall served on the high court until his retirement in 1973. One of Hall's most influential judgments was Calder v. British Columbia (Attorney General), dealing with aboriginal title. Hall wrote compelling reasons arguing that aboriginal title existed in British Columbia under the common law. The Supreme Court divided on the issue, 3-3, so his opinion was not implemented. However, his judgment is credited with persuading Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to open land-claim negotiations with First Nations. Hall's judgment also contributed to the entrenchment of aboriginal rights in the Constitution in 1982. In 1967, Hall was the sole dissent in the Supreme Court's reference decision upholding the 1959 conviction of Steven Truscott for capital murder. In his dissent, Hall argued that the trial had not been conducted according to law and that grave errors had been committed. He would have allowed the appeal and ordered a new trial. Public policy advocate Royal Commission on Health Services In 1961, while Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Hall was appointed by the Diefenbaker government to chair a royal commission on the national health system. The question of health care was a major issue at the time. In the 1960 Saskatchewan general election, the CCF government of Tommy Douglas had run on a platform of implementing a universal health care plan. The issue was extremely controversial. When the Saskatchewan government enacted the Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Bill in the fall of 1961, it triggered a strike by the doctors in Saskatchewan, which led to some changes to the provincial plan. The federal government's choice of Hall to lead the commission reassured the medical community, which had pressed for an inquiry to look at alternatives to the universal medicare system proposed by the Saskatchewan government. The Hall Commission heard from hundreds of witnesses. Hall closely questioned them, and was struck by the inequities in the Canadian health system and the lack of access to health care. He continued to conduct the inquiry after his appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Hall Commission issued its report in 1964. To the surprise of many, Hall recommended the nationwide adoption of Saskatchewan's