Roy McMurtry got a threatening letter from the Ku Klux Klan. He calls it a 'badge of honour'

Roy McMurtry still remembers the day the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klanhand-delivered a letter to his office in 1977.

The former provincial attorney general and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario, now 86, recountedthe story to CBC Toronto's Dwight DrummondasBlack History Month began.

He said the threat didn't dampenhis desire to work for people from various backgrounds.

"I've had that letter framed in every office I've occupied since I received it," said McMurtry, referring to the typed letter, now yellowed with age.

"It's a badge of honour."

Grand Wizard David Duke, then 26, had stopped by Queen's Park to demanda meeting with McMurtry.

When he failed to get one, he insteadpassed along the letter, in which he accusedthe attorney general of "anti-white policies," including trying to "destroy" the free speech of white people.

Duke warned of"grave consequences" ifMcMurtrycontinued his work.

The threatcame after members of the Western Guard, a Toronto-based white supremacist group and an unofficial branch of the KKK, were jailed in Ontario.

Roy McMurtry on his legacy of fighting discrimination

6 years ago

Duration 4:04

"Toronto wasn't a very multicultural city when I was growing up," said McMurtry, who was born in Toronto in the early 1930s.

Photos withIndiraGandhi, NelsonMandela, Princess Diana

The walls in his office at Hull & Hull LLP in Toronto, where he now continues to serve as counsel, are a testament to the 86-year-old's storied career.

His office is adornedwith photos from moments captured withIndira Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana and Fidel Castro, to name a few.

While his work sent him overseas, McMurtry's work at homeshowed acommitment to help end discrimination, which includedchanging the penalties for racially motivated assaults and ruling in favour of same-sex marriage.

His dedication tohuman rightsstarted with his late brother, Bill,who worked one summer as a sleeping-car porter forthe Canadian National Railway in the 1950sa job almost exclusively filled by black workers.

Bill became friends with these men, givingboth McMurtry brothers an education in the issues these workers faced.

McMurtry also worked for Frontier College during his undergraduate yearsat the University of Toronto, where he taught new immigrants at night school.

"That encouraged the respect I had for the people who made the difficult and courageous decision to leave their countries of birth and go to a country with a different culture and often a different language," he said.

"It made me very sensitive to these issues."

Advocate for human rights, ally tothe black community

McMurtry'sexperiences transferred to hispolitical career.

As attorney general under former Progressive Conservative premier Bill Davis in 1975, McMurtry chaired the Ontario cabinet committee on race relations. He was seen as a major advocate for human rights and a voice for the issues face by the black community.

Even 30 years later, McMurtry was still a fixture when it came to helping Ontarians understandrace relations.

He andAlvin Curling, a former Liberal MPP and speaker of the Ontario legislature, were appointed by former premier Dalton McGuinty to review what the province coulddo to curb youth violence.

This led to the 2008Roots of Violence report, which made recommendationsthat were echoed this past yearas Toronto grappled with record-high gun violence.

"I can't say that we've made great progress," said McMurtry.

He says there still aren't enough people engaged in communities where the violence persists, and that unless theyare from these communities, people don't tend to think it's their problem.

"We have to be continually vigilant to promote these issues, otherwise our quality of life and this community will deteriorate and our problems become exacerbated," he said.

McMurtry insists that the current government needs to investmore inactivities and development programs for at-risk youth.

"It may not be a popular issue, but for me, to the day I die, it will remain a big priority."