Lawyers | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Displaying 61-75 of 82 results

  • Article

    Maisie Hurley

    Maisie Hurley, née Maisie Amy Campbell-Johnston, Vancouver-area political activist, Indigenous ally (see Indigenous Peoples in Canada), newspaper founder and art collector (born 27 November 1887 in Swansea, Wales; died 3 October 1964 in North Vancouver, British Columbia). Although Hurley had no formal legal training or law degree (see Legal Education), she worked on several legal cases and advocated for Indigenous peoples’ basic human rights as well as for changes to the Indian Act. In 1946, Hurley started a newspaper called The Native Voice that aimed to bring attention to important issues concerning Indigenous communities across Canada (see Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada). In 2011, Hurley’s collection of Indigenous art was displayed at the North Vancouver Museum. 

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Untitled-11.jpg Maisie Hurley

  • Article

    Malcolm Rowe

    Malcolm Rowe, lawyer, public servant, university lecturer, Supreme Court justice (born 1953 in St. John’s, NL). Malcolm Rowe is an expert in international law. After working in the public service in Ottawa and in Newfoundland and Labrador, Rowe served as a justice with the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court’s trial division and then with its Court of Appeal. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on 28 October 2016. He is the first Supreme Court justice from Newfoundland and Labrador.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/malcolm-rowe-rr-hr.jpg Malcolm Rowe

  • Article

    Mary John Batten

    Mary John Batten (née Fodchuk), lawyer, politician, justice and chief justice of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench (born 30 August 1921 in Sifton, MB; died 9 October 2015). Mary John Batten was the first Ukrainian Canadian woman elected to a Canadian legislature. She served as an MLA in Saskatchewan from 1956 until 1964. That year, she became the first woman to be appointed as a federal judge in Saskatchewan, and only the second in Canada. In 1983, she became Saskatchewan’s first female chief justice. She also chaired a Saskatchewan royal commission. She retired from the bench in 1989.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/DCI-images/Mary-John-Batten-final.jpg Mary John Batten

  • Article

    Maxime Bernier

    Maxime Bernier, businessman, lawyer, politician, leader of the People’s Party of Canada 2018–present (born 18 January 1963 in St-Georges-de-Beauce, Quebec). Maxime Bernier served as Member of Parliament for Beauce from 2006 to 2019. He was a prominent Cabinet minister in the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. After narrowly losing the Conservative leadership race to Andrew Scheer in 2017, Bernier left the party in 2018 and formed the far-right People’s Party of Canada (PPC). Bernier opposes government intervention in society, culture, the economy. He also criticizes multiculturalism and increased immigration as well as government policies to fight climate change.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Libertarianism/Maxime_Bernier.jpg Maxime Bernier

  • Article

    Michelle O’Bonsawin

    Michelle O’Bonsawin, justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, lawyer, law professor (born in 1974 in Hanmer, Ontario). Michelle O’Bonsawin was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on 1 September 2022, making her the first Indigenous justice to serve on the Court. An Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation, O’Bonsawin is also Franco-Ontarian. She is known for her expertise on matters relating to Indigenous law and legal issues — in particular the Gladue principles — as well as labour, mental health and privacy issues.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/michelle-obonsawin-rr-hr.jpg Michelle O’Bonsawin

  • Article

    Murray Sinclair

    Murray Sinclair or Mizanay (Mizhana) Gheezhik, meaning “The One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky” in the Ojibwe language, lawyer, judge and senator (born in 1951 in Selkirk, MB). Called to the Manitoba Bar in 1980, Sinclair focused primarily on civil and criminal litigation, Indigenous law and human rights. In 1988, he became Manitoba’s first, and Canada’s second, Indigenous judge. Sinclair joined the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2009, before becoming a senator in 2016. He retired from the Senate in 2021 but continues to mentor Indigenous lawyers. The breadth of public service and community work completed by Sinclair demonstrates his commitment to Indigenous peoples in Canada.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/murray_sinclair_crop.jpg Murray Sinclair

  • Article

    Nicholas Kasirer

    Nicholas Kasirer, FRSC, lawyer, professor, author, justice of the Court of Appeal of Quebec, justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (born 2 February 1960, in Montreal, QC). Nicholas Kasirer is a bilingual former law professor who is well-versed in both civil law and common law. He has been one of three Quebec justices on the Supreme Court of Canada since 16 September 2019. Kasirer previously served on the Court of Appeal of Quebec. He has been published widely on many aspects of the law. He was also dean of McGill University’s Faculty of Law from 2003 to 2009.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/nicholas-kasirer-rr-hr.jpg Nicholas Kasirer

  • Article

    Palbinder Kaur Shergill

    Palbinder Kaur Shergill, QC, judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in New Westminster (born in Rurka Kalan, Punjab, India). Shergill spent 26 years practising law before she was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. She was the first turbaned Sikh woman to be appointed as a judge in Canada.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/PalbinderKaurShergill/Palbinder_Kaur_Shergill_Tweetonly.jpg Palbinder Kaur Shergill

  • Article

    Rachel Notley

    Rachel Notley, 17th premier of Alberta (2015–19) and leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party (2014–), lawyer (born 17 April 1964 in Edmonton, AB). As a lawyer, Rachel Notley specialized in labour issues, working in both British Columbia and Alberta. The daughter of Grant Notley, Alberta NDP leader from 1968 to 1984, she won her first election in 2008 and was elected party leader in 2014. Notley led her party to a surprise electoral victory on 5 May 2015, defeating the longest-serving government in Canadian history — the Progressive Conservatives, who had been in power since 1971. However, in the 2019 Alberta general election, Notley and the NDP lost to Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/RachelNotley/Rachel_Notley_crop.jpg Rachel Notley

  • Article

    Richard M. Ivey

    Richard (Dick) Macauley Ivey, CC, QC, lawyer, businessperson and philanthropist (born 26 October 1925 in London, ON; died 28 December 2019 in Toronto, ON). Richard M. Ivey had a long career as a corporate lawyer and business executive, but he is best known for his philanthropy. Working through his family’s Ivey Foundation, he supported education, medicine and the arts, in particular. The name of the world-renowned Ivey Business School at Western University recognizes his and his family members’ contributions to the university.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/RichardMIvey/Ivey_LFPJune7_1979.jpg Richard M. Ivey

  • Article

    Richard Wagner

    Richard Wagner, PC, lawyer, justice of the Superior Court of Quebec, justice of the Quebec Court of Appeal, justice and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (born 2 April 1957 in Montreal, QC). Richard Wagner has been a justice on the Supreme Court of Canada since 5 October 2012. An expert in litigation and commercial law, he is one of three justices on the bench from Quebec. He has been Chief Justice of Canada since 18 December 2017. He also served as administrator of the Government of Canada (interim governor general) for six months in 2021 following the sudden resignation of Julie Payette. As chief justice, Wagner has sought to make the Supreme Court more transparent and accessible.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/The_Honourable_Richard_Wagner.jpg Richard Wagner

  • Article

    Robert Jameson

    Robert Sympson Jameson (born 5 June 1796 in Harbridge, United Kingdom; died 1 August 1854 in Toronto, Ontario), lawyer and politician. Robert Jameson was the last British-appointed attorney general of Upper Canada (1833–37) and the first speaker of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada (1841–43).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Robert_Sympson_Jameson.png Robert Jameson

  • Article

    Roberta Jamieson

    Roberta Louise Jamieson, OC, Kanyen'kehà:ka (Mohawk) lawyer, ombudsman, Six Nations chief, policy advisor, senior mediator, businesswoman (born in 1953 at Six Nations of the Grand River Territory near Brantford, ON). Jamieson was the first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a law degree (1976); first non-Parliamentarian appointed to a House of Commons committee (1982); first woman appointed ombudsman in Ontario (1989); and first woman elected as Six Nations chief (2001).

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/RobertaJamieson/Roberta Jamieson.png Roberta Jamieson

  • Article

    Romeo Saganash

    Romeo Saganash, lawyer, politician, advocate for Indigenous rights (born 28 October 1962 in Waswanipi, a Cree community southeast of James Bay in central Quebec). Saganash is Quebec’s first Indigenous Member of Parliament and the province’s first Cree person to receive an undergraduate law degree. He is believed to be the first Indigenous leader in Canada to run for the leadership of a major political party. For the last 20 years, Saganash has represented the Cree at numerous national and international forums concerning Indigenous issues. He spent 23 years helping to negotiate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — a resolution that provides a framework to implement treaty rights between First Peoples and Canada and to fulfill other obligations in international agreements. He has spent his life furthering the economic, environmental, legal and constitutional rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada, particularly the Cree in the James Bay region.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Romeo-Saganash.jpg Romeo Saganash

  • Article

    Rosalie Silberman Abella

    Rosalie Silberman Abella, FRSC, justice of the Supreme Court of Canada 2004–21, justice of the Ontario Family Court 1976–92, justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal 1992–2004, lawyer (born 1 July 1946 in Stuttgart, Germany). Rosalie Silberman Abella is the first Jewish woman and the first former refugee to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. She was also both the youngest person and the first pregnant person to become a judge in Canada. Abella served as a justice on the Supreme Court from 2004 until 2021. She is best known for her advocacy for employment equity, for determining the legal context that bars employment discrimination, and for extending survivor benefits to same-sex couples. She has received 40 honorary degrees and has been inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/20170125_GlobalJuristAward_Abella_cropped.jpg Rosalie Silberman Abella