Victor Toews (; born September 10, 1952) is a Canadian politician and jurist. Toews is a judge of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba. He represented Provencher in the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 until his resignation on July 9, 2013, and served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, most recently as Minister of Public Safety. He previously served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1995 to 1999, and was a senior cabinet minister in the government of Gary Filmon. Prior to his appointment to the judiciary, Toews was a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. Personal life Toews was born September 10, 1952, in Filadelfia, Boquerón Department, Paraguay to Mennonite Canadian parents. His father, Victor David Toews, was a Reverend who was teaching in the Fernheim Mennonite Colony with Toews mother, Anna Peters. In 1920, his paternal great-grandparents were killed in a bomb blast during the Russian Civil War after the Russian Revolution. Vic Toews has five siblings: Bernhard, Clara, Marlene, Edward, and Esther. His family left Paraguay in 1956 for Canada and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Toews speaks Mennonite Low German (his mother tongue), Spanish and English. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Winnipeg (1973), and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Manitoba (1976). Toews was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1977. He joined the provincial Ministry of Justice in 1976 and became a Crown attorney the following year. Divorce Toews divorced from his wife of 30 years, Lorraine Kathleen Fehr, after it was discovered that he had fathered a child with a young Conservative Party staffer. In divorce documents, Fehr claimed Toews had a much earlier relationship with the family's child care provider. This incident later became publicized in February 2012, when an anonymous Twitter account (later discovered to be a Liberal Party staffer) began posting information from Toews' divorce affidavit (that were on the public record, filed with the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba) as reaction to the introduction of Bill-30. Conviction In 2005, Toews was charged with violating Manitoba's Election Finances Act in the 1999 provincial election. During the election cycle, it was discovered that his election campaign had spent $7,500 more than the allowed limit. Toews pleaded guilty, and was later convicted and fined $500. Provincial politician Toews joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba