Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada

Since 1875, there have been 80 Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada of which 7 were women, including the present Chief Justice, Beverley McLachlin, the first woman Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

1. Bertha Wilson

Supreme Court Judge from 1982-1991

• First woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada.
• First woman appointed a partner in a major Canadian law firm in 1959.
• First woman appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1975.
• Author of the Supreme Court decision overturning Criminal Code of Canada restrictions on abortion in 1988.
• Known for her acceptance of the battered-wife syndrome as self-defense in R. v Lavallée, 1990.

http://canadaonline.about.com

http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca

2. Claire L’Heureux-Dubé

Supreme Court Judge from 1987-2002

• Second woman appointed to the position of Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.
• First woman from Quebec appointed to this position.
• Remembered as one of the most prolific dissenters of the Court. Her judicial view was atypical for her time and often clashed with the majority of the Court.
• Among her more controversial decisions we find Canada (Attorney General) v. Mossop, [1993] 1 SCR 554 where she alone acknowledged that the meaning of family is not fixed and should be read purposively to adapt to the changing times and it should include same-sex couples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_L'Heureux-Dubé

http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca

3. Beverley McLachlin

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, since 2000

• Third woman appointed to the position of Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.
• First woman to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, appointed in 2000.
• First woman appointed to the BC Court of Appeal and the first female BC Supreme Court Justice.
• When Governor General Adrienne Clarkson was hospitalized in July 2005, Justice McLachlin served as the Administrator of the Government and performed the duties of the Governor General, including giving royal assent to the Civil Marriage Act, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage in Canada.
• Among her more controversial decisions was her ruling in R. v. Seaboyer, where she struck down the rape shield law because it violated the right to a fair trial of those accused of sexual assault.

www.scc-csc.gc.ca

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverley_McLachlin

www.canadaonline.about.com

4. Louise Arbour
Supreme Court Judge from 1999-2004

• Fourth woman appointed to the position of Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.
• Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• Former justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
• Serves as President and CEO of the International Crisis Group since 2009.
• Has published in the area of criminal procedure and criminal law, in both French and English. Has served as an editor for the Criminal Reports, the Canadian Rights Reporter, and the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.
• Best known as a chief prosecutor for tribunals into the genocide in Rwanda and human rights abuses in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Arbour
http://www.crisisgroup.org

5. Marie Deschamps
Supreme Court Judge since 2002

• Fifth woman appointed to the position of Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.
• Called to the Quebec Bar in 1975.
• Adjunct professor in the Université de Sherbrooke’s law faculty since 2006.
• Frequent speaker and has also written a number of legal commentaries.
• appointed to the Quebec Superior Court on March 29, 1990, to the Quebec Court of Appeal on May 6, 1992 and to the Supreme Court of Canada on August 7, 2002.
• Has broken ranks over some of the most contentious social issues the court has dealt with in recent years, including spanking, marijuana, and the validity of separation agreements after divorce.

http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca

www.canadianjusticereviewboard.ca

6. Rosalie Silberman Abella
Supreme Court Judge since 2004

• Sixth woman appointed to the position of Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.
• First Jewish woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
• Was called to the Ontario Bar in 1972.
• Was the sole Commissioner of the 1984 federal Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, creating the term and concept of "employment equity".
• Has written over 80 articles and written or co-edited four books.
• Has been awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law; the Distinguished Service Award of the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario); the International Justice Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation; the Human Relations Award of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews; the Honourable Walter S. Tarnopolsky Human Rights Award; the Bora Laskin Award for Distinguished Service in Labour Law; and 30 honourary degrees.

http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca

7. Louise Charron

Supreme Court Judge since 2004

• Seventh woman appointed to the position of Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.
• First franco-ontarian appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
• Received a B.A. from Carleton University in 1972 and an LL.B. from the University of Ottawa in 1975.
• Served as Assistant Crown Attorney for the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton from 1978 to 1988, holding this position on a full-time basis from 1980 to 1985.
• Was a lecturer in the French common law section of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law from 1978 to 1985, when she joined the Faculty as Assistant Professor, a position she held until 1988.
• Was appointed a District Court Judge and Local Judge of the High Court of Ontario in Ottawa in 1988 and Judge of the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division) in 1990. 

http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Charron