Rosalie Abella

Template:Infobox officeholder Rosalie Silberman Abella Template:Post-nominals (born July 1, 1946) is a Canadian jurist. In 2004, Abella was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, becoming the first Jewish woman and refugee to sit on the Canadian Supreme Court bench.<ref name="sccbio">Template:Cite web</ref> She retired from the Supreme Court in 2021.

Early life and education

Rosalie Silberman Abella was born on July 1, 1946, the daughter of Jacob and Fanny (Krongold) Silberman.<ref name="jwa.org">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="macharles2021" /> She was born in a displaced persons camp in Stuttgart, Germany. Her father was born in Sienno, Poland, in 1910,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while her mother was born in Ostrowiec in 1917.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Abella's older brother was murdered in the Holocaust. Her parents both survived, Jacob Silberman was liberated from Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Fanny Silberman survived Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Jacob had studied law at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and was appointed head of legal services for displaced persons in the US Zone of Southwest Germany.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Text of a speech given by Justice Abella to the Empire Club in Toronto on February 9, 2011 Template:Cite web.</ref><ref name="jwa.org"/> In 1950, her family was admitted into Canada, though Jacob Silberman was not allowed to practise law because he was not a citizen.<ref name="jwa.org"/><ref name=fine2021>Template:Cite news</ref>

From a young age, Abella was determined to become a lawyer.<ref name="jwa.org" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She attended Oakwood Collegiate Institute and Bathurst Heights Secondary School in Toronto, Ontario.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She then attended the University of Toronto, where she earned a B.A. in 1967 and an LL.B. in 1970.<ref name="sccbio">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1964, Abella graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in classical piano.<ref name="sccbio"/>

Career

Abella was called to the Ontario bar in 1972.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> She practised civil and criminal litigation until 1976, when, at the age of 29, she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court (which is now part of the Ontario Court of Justice) by then–attorney general Roy McMurtry,<ref name="wells2021">Template:Cite web</ref> becoming both the youngest and first pregnant judge in Canadian history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1992.<ref name=":0" />

In 1983–1984, Abella served as the sole commissioner of the federal Royal Commission on Equality in Employment (known as the Abella commission), appointed by Lloyd Axworthy.<ref name="wells2021" /> As commissioner, she coined the term and concept of "employment equity",<ref name="macharles2021" /> a strategy for reducing barriers in employment faced by women, visible minorities, people with disabilities, and Aboriginal peoples.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="sccbio" /> The theories of equality and discrimination developed in the report were adopted in Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia (1989), the Supreme Court of Canada's first decision regarding equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.<ref name="sccbio" /> Its recommendations report was also adopted by jurisdictions including New Zealand, South Africa, and Northern Ireland.<ref name=":0" />

In 1988, Abella moderated the televised English-language leaders' debate between Brian Mulroney (PC), John Turner (Liberal) and Ed Broadbent (NDP).<ref name="sccbio" />

Abella has acted as chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Ontario Study into Access to Legal Services by the Disabled and the Ontario Law Reform Commission, and as a member of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and of the judicial inquiry into the Donald Marshall, Jr. case. From 1988 to 1992, she taught at McGill University Faculty of Law as the Boulton Visiting Professor.<ref name="sccbio" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed Abella to the Supreme Court of Canada. Abella became the first Jewish woman to sit on the court.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was eligible to serve on the Supreme Court until July 1, 2021, when she turned 75.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In February 2021, she announced that she would retire on that date, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau started the selection process of a new justice who would succeed her.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mahmud Jamal was selected as her replacement, and assumed office on July 1, 2021. Following her retirement from the Supreme Court, Abella has served as a visiting professor at Fordham University School of Law and Harvard Law School.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Abella is an authority on constitutional law and human rights law. Her opinions often cite foreign and international law.<ref name=macharles2021>Template:Cite news</ref> According to Sian Elias, they are regarded as authoritative by judges in many common law countries.<ref name=fine2021/>

Honours and personal life

Abella has received at least 38 honorary degrees.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> On June 7, 2023, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan. She became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1997.<ref name="sccbio" /> She was awarded the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was elected a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007.<ref name="AAAS">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2012 she was awarded the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In May 2016, she was awarded an honorary degree from Yale University,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> becoming the first Canadian woman to earn such an honour.<ref name=":0" /> In addition, she has been a judge of the Giller Prize. In January 2017, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law's Center for International Human Rights named her the Global Jurist of the Year for 2016 in recognition of her commitment to human rights and international criminal justice.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In April 2018, Abella was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Abella is the widow of historian Irving Abella,<ref name=":0" /> and has two sons.

Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella, a documentary film about Abella by director Barry Avrich, premiered on May 1, 2023 at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.<ref>Barry Hertz, "Hot Docs 2023: Former Supreme Court judge Rosalie Abella claims another precedent with new film". The Globe and Mail, April 21, 2023.</ref>

See also

• Reasons of the Supreme Court of Canada by Justice Abella

External links

• Biography at the Supreme Court of Canada