Early Life
Martin was born in Windsor, Ontario. His father, Paul Joseph James Martin, a Franco-Ontarian of Irish and French descent, served thirty-three years as a member of the Canadian House of Commons, and was a Cabinet minister in the Liberal governments of Prime Ministers W.L. Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, Lester B. Pearson, and Pierre E. Trudeau. His mother, Eleanor "Nelly" Alice (née Adams), was of Scottish, Irish, and Métis descent. He has one sister, Mary Anne.
Martin contracted polio in 1946 at the age of eight (like his father had, before him, who contracted the disease in 1907). He grew up in Windsor and Ottawa. To give him the opportunity to improve his French, his parents enrolled him in a private French-language middle school, École Garneau in Ottawa. He then briefly attended the University of Ottawa.
Martin graduated from St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto with a B.A. in history and philosophy in 1961. He then attended the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he received an LL.B. in 1964. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1966.
In 1965, Martin married Sheila Ann Cowan, with whom he has three sons: Paul, Jamie and David.
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