Ron Irwin

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Canadian politician (1936–2020)

title: "Ron Irwin" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["canadian-king's-counsel", "ministers-of-crown–indigenous-relations", "canadian-people-of-irish-descent", "liberal-party-of-canada-mps", "mayors-of-sault-ste.-marie,-ontario", "members-of-the-26th-canadian-ministry", "members-of-the-house-of-commons-of-canada-from-ontario", "members-of-the-order-of-canada", "members-of-the-king's-privy-council-for-canada", "lawyers-in-ontario", "university-of-western-ontario-alumni", "1936-births", "2020-deaths", "osgoode-hall-law-school-alumni", "ambassadors-of-canada-to-ireland", "20th-century-members-of-the-house-of-commons-of-canada", "20th-century-mayors-of-places-in-ontario", "delta-upsilon-members"] description: "Canadian politician (1936–2020)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Irwin" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Canadian politician (1936–2020) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
image
name	Ron Irwin
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
honorific-suffix
office	Canadian Ambassador to Ireland
monarch	Elizabeth II
primeminister	Jean Chrétien
term_start	September 4, 1998
term_end	2001
predecessor	Michael B. Phillips
successor	William Gusen
office1	Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
primeminister1	Jean Chrétien
term_start1	November 4, 1993
term_end1	June 10, 1997
predecessor1	Pauline Browes
successor1	Jane Stewart
riding2	Sault Ste. Marie
parliament2	Canadian
term_start2	October 25, 1993
term_end2	June 1, 1997
predecessor2	Steve Butland
successor2	Carmen Provenzano
term_start3	February 18, 1980
term_end3	September 3, 1984
predecessor3	Cyril Symes
successor3	James Kelleher
office4	20th Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
term_start4	December 1972
term_end4	December 1974
predecessor4	John Rhodes
successor4	Nick Trbovich
office5	Sault Ste. Marie Alderman, Ward 1
term_start5	December 1968
term_end5	December 1972
predecessor5	Frank Shunock
successor5	William Hrynuik
birth_name	Ronald Albert Irwin
birth_date
birth_place	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
death_date
party	Liberal
occupation
::

Ronald A. Irwin (October 29, 1936 – December 5, 2020) was a Canadian diplomat and politician.

Early life

Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Irwin earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Western Ontario and a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. While at the University of Western Ontario he joined the Sigma Kappa Sigma chapter of Delta Upsilon.

Irwin was born into a political family, with four members of his family having served in municipal office. His great-grandfather Thomas Irwin had been a councillor in the township of Tarentorus in the 1910s. Two of Irwin's great-uncles, sons of Alfred, had served as well. Thomas Irwin was mayor of the city from 1926 to 1929 and Fred Irwin had been a city alderman around that same time.

Public service

Irwin was elected to two terms on Sault Ste. Marie city council as an alderman for the city's ward one, in 1968 and 1970.

Following John Rhodes' election to the provincial legislature in October 1971, Irwin chose to seek the mayor's chair for the remainder of the term. Following four rounds of in camera voting by his council colleagues, Irwin was named mayor, edging our three follow aldermen.

He was returned to the mayors office in the 1973 municipal election, serving a full term ending that ended in January 1975. He also served as a school trustee, and director of the local Chamber of Commerce.

From 1977 to 1980, he was a member of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Irwin was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1980 federal election as a Liberal. He served as parliamentary secretary to Jean Chrétien while the latter was justice minister. Irwin was defeated in the 1984 election but returned to parliament in the 1993 election.

When the Liberals returned to power as a result of the 1993 election, Chrétien, now Prime Minister of Canada, appointed Irwin to his cabinet as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Irwin retired from parliament in 1997.

Irwin served as a personal advisor to Prime Minister Chrétien from 1997 to 1998. He was appointed Canadian Ambassador to Ireland in 1998, and served until 2001. In 2001, Irwin was appointed Canada's Consul General to Boston.

Irwin was made a Member of the Order of Canada on June 25, 1975 with the citation "Former Mayor of Sault Ste. Marie. For his contribution to the improvement of conditions in his city through his dedicated service with many civic groups."

Death

Irwin died in Sault Ste. Marie on December 5, 2020, at the age of 84. His remains were interred at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

References

(October 28, 1971). "Ron Irwin to be new Sault mayor". The Sault Daily Star.
(October 28, 1971). "Ron Irwin to be new Sault mayor". The Sault Daily Star.
"Ron Irwin, former Sault Ste. Marie mayor and Liberal cabinet minister, dies at 84". [[CBC News]].
"The Honourable Ronald A. Irwin". Government of Canada.
(2020-12-05). "Ron Irwin passes away at age 84".
"Obituary of Ronald Irwin".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::