The Empire Club of Canada
Friday, June 3, 2016
The Empire Club of Canada Presents:
The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, P.C., Chief Justice of Canada With The First Event of our Sesquicentennial Series: Celebrating Canada’s 150th Anniversary
Canada’s Legal System at 150: Fostering Canadian Democracy Through an Independent Judiciary. An independent judiciary is an essential feature of a free, democratic society. Canada’s sesquicentennial presents an opportunity to take stock of this cornerstone of Canadian democracy. Judicial independence has characterized the Canadian constitutional order even as the country evolved from a system of Parliamentary sovereignty under the British North America Act, 1867, to one of constitutional supremacy under the Constitution Act, 1982 and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Through a survey of this evolution, the address will draw attention to current concerns relating to judicial independence in Canada, and to the need to better understand this most fundamental of constitutional principles.
Chief Justice McLachlin spent her formative years in Pincher Creek, Alberta and was educated at the University of Alberta, where she received a B.A., Honours, in Philosophy in 1965. She pursued her studies at the University of Alberta and, in 1968, received both an M.A. in Philosophy and an LL.B. 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 of 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. She is the first woman in Canada to hold this position. In addition to her judicial duties at the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice chairs the Canadian Judicial Council, the Advisory Council of the Order of Canada and the Board of Go Judicial Institute. The Chief Justice is the author of numerous articles and publications.
Speaker:
The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, P.C., Chief Justice of Canada
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