André Miville Déchène, son of Joseph Miville Déchène and Maria Gariépy, was born March 25, 1912 in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1919, the family moved to Thérien, Alberta, then to Saint-Paul, in 1926, and to Bonnyville, in 1928. André attended the Collège des Jésuites, which was affiliated with Laval University, and enrolled in Law at the University of Alberta in 1936. He married Thérèse Dessureault in the summer of 1938. After graduating in 1939, André articled with Griesbach, O'Connor and O'Connor, and was admitted to the bar in July 1940. He practiced in Bonnyville before enlisting in the army in 1942. After returning to Alberta following the Second World War, Déchène joined the law firm of Duncan, Cross and Johnson, in Edmonton. He ran unsuccessfully as a liberal candidate in the provincial elections in 1948, 1952 and 1955. In 1952, he was made a partner in Duncan, Miskew, Dechene, Bowen, Craig & Brosseau. In 1953 he was appointed Queen's Counsel. On September 9, 1963, he was sworn in as a Judge of the Court of the District of Northern Alberta and in 1965 was named to the Supreme Court of Alberta, a position he held until 1978. In 1971, he was also appointed Deputy Judge of the Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories.

André Miville-Déchène was heavily involved in the local community. In 1948, he was president of the Edmonton Bar Association. He was vice-president of the Liberal Association of Alberta from 1947 to 1953, chair of the Edmonton Separate School Board from 1951 to 1957, president of l'Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta (the French-Canadian Association of Alberta) from 1955 to 1962, as well as being president of Radio-Edmonton Limitée from 1955 to 1963, president of Conseil de la vie française en Amérique from 1965, chair of the Canada Pension Appeals Board and chair of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for the North-West Territories among many others positions on various boards.

Justice André Miville Déchène passed away May 21, 1992.