Player Profile
Player Profile
DICK GOSSE
Unit 431 Player Profile
by Linda Patton
LP: Where were you born and what was your early life like?
DG: I was born in the Vancouver General Hospital and had no siblings. Much as I would have liked it, I was not spoiled as an only child as my mother was a firm believer in obedience. This led me, at an early age, however, to have a kind of perverse independent mind of my own which has, I think, served me quite well throughout my life. Sometimes it got me into trouble, particularly with bridge partners.
LP: What is your educational background?
DG: I was packed off to a small boarding school in the Okanagan at the age of nine and was there for five years, finishing Grade ten. This was not a Dickensian experience at all, but a friendly place run by a loving and loveable Anglican minister, with a great sports program. It was the best thing that could have happened to me at that age. I learnt how to study and became good enough to later play rugby, grass hockey and cricket for UBC – and discovered I was really a runner at heart. I did my Grades 11 and 12 at Prince of Wales High School in Vancouver, discovering the existence of the other gender.
LP: I understand World War II interrupted your education?
DG: Yes. I joined the RCAF and trained as a pilot. I was posted to a squadron in Yorkshire with the Canadian Bomber Command just as the war in Europe ended. I was disappointed at the time but if the war had gone on, we might not be having this interview.
But learning to fly and the life was a lot of fun for a teenager.
LP: After the war you went to university?
DG: I went to McGill and did a BA in economics and political science and then, with nothing better to do, really, I took law at UBC, graduating in 1950. In the summers I articled with Davie Fulton in Kamloops. He was a fine chap, and later became Minister of Justice in the Diefenbaker government. Later, after practicing law for seven years, I spent three wonderful years at Oxford taking a doctor of philosophy degree in law.
LP: What attracted you to law?
DG: Well, what appeals to me about the law is the analysis and research one can get into. This can be of compelling interest if you are driven by curiosity, which I think I am. And I am drawn to writing. I have done the research for and written a lot of reports for governments and government agencies, as well as a number of academic articles.
LP: What was your first work experience?
DG: Working on a Cariboo cattle ranch haying, rounding up cattle and fencing in the summer of 1942. Then in the summers of 1946 and 1947, I was a junior reporter on the Nelson Daily News and the Vancouver Province, which was a good paper in those days.
LP: What about your legal career?
DG: It has been really satisfying. I’ve moved a lot, and I guess I like fresh challenges. I was the first lawyer to open a practice in Kitimat – in 1954 – at a time when Alcan was completing the construction of its aluminum plant and developing the townsite. Things were really booming. The new municipality was my first client. I handled all the legal work on the initial sales of some 500 new houses a year and brought in a partner. This all enabled me to head off for Oxford, which I did for three years, returning each summer so my partner could take a vacation. Going to Oxford opened a new world for me.
LP: Didn’t you become a law professor at this point?
DG: At Queens for nearly ten years, but then I went to Toronto to be counsel to the Ontario Law Reform Commission. This led to my being appointed the first full-time member of the Law Reform Commission of British Columbia. Then I went back to law teaching – UBC for five years. Out of the blue, in 1977, I was offered and accepted the position of Deputy Attorney General of Saskatchewan. My boss for the first five years was Roy Romanow. He was an exceptionally good person to work for and with. I stayed on for another three years after the government changed. That was the best job I ever had. The people of Saskatchewan were warm-hearted and straightforward, with no pretences.
LP: You went to Ottawa then?
DG: In 1985 I became the first Inspector General of the newly-created Canadian Security Intelligence Service. My role was to advise the federal government if CSIS was doing anything it shouldn’t be. Can’t tell you anything about that! But I did visit the CIA and FBI in Washington and MI5 and MI6 in London to discuss accountability issues, which was intriguing. In 1988 I was appointed chairman of a new federal commission to deal with complaints from the public about the conduct of RCMP members for all across Canada. I had to organize the process and get it going. The Mounties, I am afraid, began to regard me like their dentist. Three years of that was enough. I left Ottawa and returned to Saskatchewan to hold a special chair on law and policy at the College of Law in Saskatoon. I became absorbed with aboriginal justice reform and organized a three-day conference on that subject, attended by some 700 or so, including many First Nations members and Metis. The presentations were published in a book, “Continuing the Quest of Poundmaker and Riel”.
LP: When did you move to Victoria?
DG: Eight years ago. It was time to return to the coast, I thought, and I decided on Victoria rather than Vancouver. Vancouver has become such a sprawl and the traffic is awful. So here I am.
LP: I understand you have traveled extensively?
DG: I think I have been to about 45 countries in the past 20 years or so. Since moving to Victoria I have traveled to China and Tibet, India twice (my son is an exploration geologist there), Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Turkey, the UK, Cyprus and Israel. I was lucky that I had my travels in Israel three years ago. I was there on my own for a month. After a week in Jerusalem, I drove up the West Bank to the Sea of Galilee, around the Golan Heights to the border with Lebanon, then south through Haifa and Tel Aviv, across the Negev desert to Elat on the Red Sea. And not a problem! It is very sad to see what is happening there these days. Trying, it seems, to reconcile the irreconcilable.
LP: You had a love affair with running?
DG: Yes, I did, but it is over now. I had a running accident in New Mexico just before I came to Victoria. I ran into a stairwell, of all things, and fractured my pelvis and damaged my hip. This led to total hip replacements in both hips and my surgeon would kill me if he caught me running now. Before the accident I was running six days and 40 miles a week, whatever the weather or place. I ran a couple of marathons, entered dozens of road races, and competed in two World Masters Track and Field championships. Those were the days! But I still try and keep fit. One thing I learned from running was that it is much more satisfying to start slow and finish fast, rather than the other way around with everyone passing you at the end.
LP: When did you start to take up bridge?
DG: I played whist with friends when I was young and my parents played bridge. At university and in the air force I played a lot, but that was a long time ago. During my working years I just played sporadically. I really started up again when I came to Victoria and someone suggested that I take up duplicate, which I had never played at all. She got me to turn up for, unexpectedly for me, what was a sectional and she had found some nice stranger willing to take me on. It was a disaster! Bidding systems had changed in 40 years. Weak two bids? What were those strange boxes at the corners of each table? But I began playing regularly at Monterey, which was then run by Allan Graves. My first two regular partners were Betty West and Daphne Dunbar. They were both good players, although their styles were different, and I enjoyed playing with them and they put up with me. I gradually eased my way into the game and now I need just nine gold points to become a life master. I hope I make it.
LP: How do you approach bridge?
DG: I think of each hand as an adventure because each one is different. I love getting good hands, becoming declarer without being greedy about it, and trying to squeeze as many tricks as possible. I do get bored with evenings of poor hands with not much to defend with – but I suppose we all do. I am not much of a technical bidder. I prefer to keep bidding simple and tend to rely on my instincts as to where the cards are likely to be situated. Sometimes it works.
LP: Do you have a pet peeve?
DG: I dislike having unfriendly opponents at the bridge table – the game should be fun and sociable.
LP: Have you had any interesting bridge-related experiences?
DG: One in particular. At the Christmas bridge party a few years back, I won a raffle prize which was having the excitement and honour of playing with Duncan Smith at the then upcoming NABC in Vancouver. There I was with my 100 points or so playing with Duncan opposite the Michigan State champions and others of their ilk. Duncan and I managed to perform at over 50% in the afternoon but I fell apart in the evening session. Duncan was a true gentleman throughout and it was a great learning experience for me, but when all is said and done, the play at that level is too serious and intense, and obviously too good, for my liking.
Interviewer’s Note: Following Dick’s last response he said ‘Thirty’. When I asked what that meant, he said it was a newspaper reporter’s term that means "end of story" rather than end of interview. The term was used by reporters to indicate that they had reached the end of a story that they had written, whether it was based on an interview or not. So, this is where it ends folks.
Copyright:
ACBLUnit 431
James K. Foster,
January, 2005