Protecting Canada’s Courts: Lessons from Our Longest-Serving Chief Justice
The role of apex courts in safeguarding constitutional values and democratic institutions, and upholding the rule of law, has become acute in an era of backsliding.
What distinctive features of Canada's judicial system have protected its independence? How does Canada compare to the United States? Are these norms, structures and rules adequate for the challenges ahead?
As Canada's longest-serving Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (2000-2017), the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin presided over some of the most significant legal decisions in our history. In this crucial moment for democracy worldwide, she offers unique insights into the resilience of Canada's judicial system and the challenges facing our courts in an era of increasing populism, mistrust and polarization.
In conversation with Sanjay Ruparelia at the Toronto Reference Library.
About the speaker:
The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin is a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and served as Chief Justice from 2000 to 2017, the first woman to hold that position. She retired as the longest serving Chief Justice of the Court.
Chief Justice McLachlin spent her formative years in Pincher Creek, Alberta. She was educated at the University of Alberta, where she received a B.A. (Honours) in Philosophy in 1965 and a M.A. in Philosophy and an LL.B in 1968. She was called to the Alberta Bar in 1969 and to the British Columbia Bar in 1971 and practised law in Alberta and British Columbia. Commencing in 1974, she taught for seven years in the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia as a tenured Associate Professor.
Her judicial career began in April 1981 when she was appointed to the Vancouver County Court. In September 1981, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. She was elevated to the British Columbia Court of Appeal in December 1985 and was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in September 1988. Seven months later, in April 1989, she was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. On January 7, 2000, she was appointed Chief Justice of Canada. In addition to her judicial duties at the Supreme Court, the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin chaired the Canadian Judicial Council, the Advisory Council of the Order of Canada and the Board of Governors of the National Judicial Institute.
A recipient of over thirty-five honorary degrees, Chief Justice McLachlin is a Companion of the Order of Canada and a Commander of the Legion d’Honneur, amongst other honours. Her numerous articles and publications include three bestselling novels – Full Disclosure, Denial and Proof – and a memoir, Truth Be Told, which won the prestigious Writers’ Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the Ottawa Book Award for Nonfiction.
About the discussant:
Sanjay Ruparelia is the inaugural Jarislowsky Democracy Chair, and an associate professor of politics, at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the author of Divided We Govern: Coalition Politics in Modern India, editor of The Indian Ideology: Three Responses to Perry Anderson, and co-editor of Understanding India's New Political Economy: A Great Transformation? Sanjay regularly contributes op-eds and commentary in various media, including the CBC, Dissent, Global Policy, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, New York Times, Open Canada, Policy Options, Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. He is currently a co-chair of Participedia, an international network that studies democractic innovations, a visiting fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, USA, and a senior fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Connect with him on Twitter @SVRuparelia and through his website: https://www.jarislowskydemocracychair.ca/.
About the series:
On the Frontlines of Democracy is a public lecture series to analyze the prospects of democracy in the twenty-first century.
Around the world, democracy faces serious challenges, old and new. Can we protect individual rights and the rule of law in an era of popular mistrust, severe partisanship and resurgent nationalism? How can our democracies reduce inequalities of power, wealth and status, defend deep diversity and confront climate change in the new digital age? Can we develop innovative strategies to revitalize civic engagement, empower public institutions and resist autocratic threats? How can we support the expansion of democracy, in an evolving post-western order, without committing the mistakes of the past?
A special collaboration between Toronto Metropolitan University, Faculty of Arts, and the Toronto Public Library.
