The Way Back Play Back on Canada’s Supreme Court Judges

Do you know which judge tried to claim $50,000 a year in clothing expenses from 2004 to 2006 as a tax deduction? Can you name the bencher that was a former piano prodigy? Who hails from Don Mills and Lawrence Avenue in Toronto? We give you a “behind the robes” look at the nine current judges of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, P.C., Chief Justice of Canada

Birth date:

• 7 September 1943

Hometown:

• Pincher Creek, Alberta

Education:

• B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy, University of Alberta
• LL.B., University of Alberta
• Won the gold medal as top student and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Alberta Law Review

Year of Call:

• 1969, Alberta
• 1971, British Columbia

Did you know?

• McLachlin J was the eldest of five children.
• High school counsellors had low expectations for the young Beverley: “I had the lowest alertness level they had ever seen. They were scratching their heads: What can we do about this person who has a very high reading retention score, but not much else? I was a misfit. How was I going to make my way?”
• She first became interested in law during her B.A. in Philosophy – the dean of law there encouraged her to pursue law.
• McLachlin J surpassed Sir William Johnstone Ritchie to become the longest-serving Chief Justice of Canada in history – she has been Chief Justice for 6,181 days or almost 17 years.
• She is married to Frank McArdle, a lawyer and executive director of the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association.
• She legalized same-sex marriage in Canada during her temporary role as the Administrator of Canada (she gave royal assent to the Civil Marriage Act while the Governor General at the time had a pacemaker operation)
• In May 2015, McLachlin was invited to speak at the Global Centre for Pluralism. She stated that Canada tried to commit “cultural genocide” against aboriginal peoples.

From McLachlin J Herself – On Being A Judge…

“What you have to try to do as a judge, whether you’re on Charter issues or any other issue, is by an act of the imagination put yourself in the shoes of the different parties, and think about how it looks from their perspective, and really think about it, not just give it lip service…As a judge, and I’ve been a judge for a long time, I have always resolved to just try to judge the issues as honestly as I can, and not to think about things in too strategic a manner. My job is simply to listen to what the parties have to say, and to do my best to understand the position, the ramifications of deciding one way or the other, to think about what’s best for Canadian society on this particular problem that’s before us, and give it my best judgment after listening to, also, my eight other colleagues. So there’s a consensual element there.”

– International Justice Monitor

The Honourable Rosalie Silberman Abella

Birth date:

• July 1, 1946

Hometown:

• Stuttgart, Germany (born in a displaced persons camp)

Education:

• Oakwood Collegiate Institute , Toronto
• B.A. and LL.B, University of Toronto

Year of Call:

• 1972, Ontario

Did You Know?

• Abella J was the first Jewish woman to sit on our highest court. She was also Canada’s youngest judge (and first pregnant one) to be appointed to the bench when she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court at age 29.
• Her parents were separated and reunited during the Holocaust. Her mother learned her husband was alive and was detained because of a typhoid epidemic.
• During their first few months in Canada, her family lived in a house on Oxford Street in Toronto’s Kensington Market.
• “The moment I heard the story about his being denied the ability to be a lawyer was the moment I decided to become one” – At four years old, Rosalie decides to become a lawyer after hearing that her father was prevented from being a lawyer first because of the Holocaust and then because of Canada’s refusal to let him into the Canadian bar. He died one month before he was to finally graduate law school in Canada.
• At age nine, Rosalie read Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables and says it was a turning point in her life: “Reading Les Mis was the moment when being a lawyer wasn’t something I wanted to do because my parents thought it was a good thing. It turned into something I wanted to do so that people would be protected from those kinds of injustices.”
• At age 10, she cemented her reputation as a highly awarded and regularly televised piano prodigy. She was one of the youngest graduates of the Royal Conservatory of Music.
• Her husband—renowned historian Irving Abella—caught her eye in her second year at the University of Toronto, in the basement of University College.
• She became the first Canadian woman to receive an honourary doctorate from Yale (you can watch her speech to Yale law graduates here).
• She conceived the theory of “employment equity” when authoring the 1984 Equality in Employment: A Royal Commission Report. Her idea has been adopted by the Supreme Court of Canada and implemented by the governments of Canada, New Zealand, Northern Ireland and South Africa.

From Abella J Herself – On Access to Justice…

“Of all the public institutions responsible for delivering justice, the judiciary is the only one for whom justice is the exclusive mandate,” she says. “This means that, while legislatures respond of necessity to the urgings of the public, however we define it, judges, on the other hand, serve only justice.”

– UofT Magazine

The Honourable Michael J. Moldaver

Birth date:

• December 23, 1947

Hometown:

• Peterborough, Ontario

Education:

• B.A. and LL.B., University of Toronto
• Was the Gold Medalist at his law school

Year of Call:

• 1973, Ontario

Did You Know?

• Moldaver J came from a blue-collar family in Peterborough – his father was a scrap dealer and worked three jobs to put his sons through university.
• Moldaver J flunked his law school exams in first semester and wanted to quit law school but his father forced him to keep going. Moldaver J ended up graduating at the top of his class.
• He was hired by Pomerant, Pomerant and Greenspan, where he only accepted clients he believed were innocent.  Moldaver J has been known to be tough on defence lawyers –as an Ontario Court of Appeal judge, he vented about defence lawyers in a controversial speech, irritated about defence lawyers that bring frivolous Charter claims.
• He has been married four times and has two daughters.
• Moldaver J is unilingual – this caused some controversy when he was nominated.

From Moldaver J Himself…

“I was always scared to death before I went into the courtroom, especially on a murder case. I’d wake up every day and I’d want to just pull the covers over my head. I often woke up thinking why didn’t I go into dentistry? And what I mean is that—and I don’t mean to disparage dentists — but when I think of dentists, I think that as long as they have some skill and do some preparation, chances are they’re going to beat the tooth. There’s probably about a 99.9 percent success rate. That’s one of the differences between being a dentist and being a trial lawyer. You can prepare to the nth degree, you can do a sparkling job in the courtroom, you can be absolutely brilliant, and you can still lose. There’s no certainty in the courtroom.”

– Ultra Vires

The Honourable Andromache Karakatsanis

Birth date:

• October 3, 1955

Hometown:

• Toronto, Ontario

Education:

• B.A. in English literature, Victoria College – University of Toronto
• LL.B., Osgoode Hall Law School

Year of Call:

• 1982, Ontario

Did You Know?

• Karatkasanis was the first Greek-Canadian judge on the Court.
• She grew up near the Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue area of Toronto.
• Justice Karatkasanis could not speak English until Kindergarten but is now fluent in English, French and Greek.
• Her parents owned a restaurant called “Top of the Mall,” where she worked as a hostess and helped her father manage the restaurant.
• She worked as a civil servant for 15 years, under the Liberals, Conservatives, and the NDP.
• As chair of the Liquor Licence Board of Ontario, Andromache allowed Toronto bars to stay open an extra hour (until 2am) when the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993, endearing her to Torontonians.
• Karatkasanis has a creative streak — she wants to paint full-time when she retires.  The walls of her house showcase her own oil paintings.

The Honourable Richard Wagner

Birth date:

• April 2, 1957

Hometown:

• Montreal, Quebec

Education:

• Diploma of College Studies, Collège Jean-de-Brébeufin Montreal
• Soc.Sc. with a major in Political Science, University of Ottawa
• Licentiate in Laws (LL.L.), University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law

Year of Call:

• 1980, Quebec

Did You Know?

• Wagner J was the middle child in his family.
• He was previously a partner in the law firm of Lavery, de Billy (formerly Lavery, O’Brien and Lavery, Johnston, Clark, Carrière, Mason & Associés).
• Wagner J caught Stephen Harper’s attention as an SCC appointee after his ruling at the Quebec Court of Appeal that denied bail to a judge charged with murder.

From Wagner Himself – On His Father’s Influence On His Life…

“He was the first person to inspire me in my choice of career,” Wagner said. “He taught me to keep my head up high during good times and in bad times…His strength of character allowed me to accomplish many things in a very short period of time. I think about him every day.”

– CTV News

The Honourable Clément Gascon

Birth date:

• 1960

Hometown:

• Montreal, Quebec

Education:

• Gascon graduated from Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf and McGill University

Year of Call:

• 1982, Quebec

Did You Know?

• Gascon J was previously a lawyer for Heenan Blaikie’s Montreal office for 21 years.
• He is married to a Quebec judge and has three children.
• He is a Montreal native and a known expert in commercial law.
• Gascon J was previously a lecturer on business, labour and construction law at the Universite du Quebec and McGill.
• When Gascon J was appointed to the Supreme Court, he was filling a seat that had remained vacant for more than a year, which is the longest vacant seat in 139 years.

From Gascon J Himself – On Struggling Initially in Law School …

“I remember my first lecture … it was about the court structure in Canada and it was given by Professor Steven Scott… I was discouraged and felt like an idiot. I did not understand anything.”

Law: Focus Online, “Alumni profile: Supreme Court Justice Clement Gascon”

The Honourable Suzanne Côté

Birth date:

• September 21, 1958

Hometown:

• Cloridorme, Québec

Education:

• Legal studies at Laval University

Did You Know?

• Growing up, Coté enjoyed reading tabloid accounts of high-profile trials.
• Coté tried to claim $50,000 a year in clothing expenses from 2004 to 2006 as a tax deduction, fighting the Quebec tax agency in court.
• While she was an articling student, Coté acquired half of her employer’s law firm.
• Coté served as independent counsel in the Lori Douglas commission, where she urged disclosure of the photos in question.
• Coté is the first female appointed directly from private practice to the Supreme Court of Canada, a practice that is rarely done in the appointment process.
• She was previously a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Montréal.
• She represented Jean Pelletier, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, after he was fired from Via Rail.

The Honourable Russell Brown

Birth date:

• September 15, 1965

Hometown:

• Burns Lake, British Columbia

Education:

• B.A., University of British Columbia
• LL.B., University of Victoria
• LL.M., and a Doctor of Juridical Science, University of Toronto

Year of Call:

• 1995, British Columbia
• 2008, Alberta

Did You Know?

• Brown J is married and has two children.
• He was previously an associate at Davis & Company (now DLA Piper LLP) in Vancouver and then a Professor and Associate Dean at the Faculty of Law of the University of Alberta.
• He is the author of a treatise on claims under negligence law for economic loss.
• He has previously co-authored over 30 published book chapters, review essays and law review articles on tort law, property law and civil justice
• He is currently the youngest judge on the Court at 51 years old.

The Honourable Malcolm H. Rowe

Birth date:

• 1953

Hometown:

• John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador

Education:

• B.Sc. and a B.A., Memorial University,
• LL.B., Osgoode Hall Law School

Year of Call:

• 1978, Newfoundland and Labrador
• 1986, Ontario

Did You Know?

• Rowe J is the first SCC judge from Newfoundland and Labrador.
• His appointment followed a new process where any jurist can apply to a seven-member committee. This new process is based on accountability and transparency to the judicial appointment process and implemented by Prime Minister Trudeau.
• Rowe J previously worked in the Canadian foreign service.
• He was involved in the negotiation of a United Nations convention on high seas fisheries.
• Rowe J has an entrepreneurial streak – he began his own private practice in Ottawa, practicing in Canadian constitutional law, foreign affairs, and arbitration over maritime matters.