Fight for equality: A conversation with Beverley McLachlin
Join us in a conversation with
Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin
Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Canada
Hosted by Althia Raj
Member of CBC's "At Issues" Panel and former Ottawa Bureau Chief for HuffPost Canada
Friday, May 7, 2021
12 pm MDT / 2 pm EDT / 3:30 pm NL
Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, PC, CC, CStJ
The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin served as Chief Justice of Canada from January 7th, 2000 to mid-December 2017.
Ms. McLachlin works as an arbitrator and mediator in Canada and internationally. She brings to those forms of dispute resolution her broad and deep experience from over 35 years in deciding a wide range of business law and public law disputes, in both common law and civil law; her ability to work in both English and French; and her experience and skill in leading and consensus-building for many years as the head of a diverse nine-member court.
In June 2018 she was appointed to the Order of Canada as a recipient of its highest accolade, Companion of the Order of Canada. She has received over 35 honorary degrees from universities in Canada and abroad, and numerous other honours and awards.
The 2,094 Supreme Court of Canada judgments in which she participated - of which she wrote 442 - and her legal writings and speaking, include a wide range of subjects in corporate, construction, financial services, taxation, contract, tort, other areas of business law, as well as arbitration and mediation. Her legal texts include, as lead co-author, the first and second editions (1987 and 1994) of The Canadian Law of Architecture and Engineering. It is generally recognized that the judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada during her tenure have affirmed Canada as a jurisdiction that is very supportive of arbitration.
Ms. McLachlin also sits as a Justice of Singapore’s International Commercial Court and the Hong Kong Final Court of Appeal. Ms. McLachlin is the author of numerous legal articles and publications, as well as a mystery novel, Full Disclosure, and Truth be Told, a story of her life.
Althia Raj
Althia Raj is an Ottawa-based political journalist and a member of the CBC’s "At Issue" panel.
She previously served as The Huffington Post Canada’s senior editorial manager and its Ottawa bureau chief from the news site’s inception in Canada in 2011 until its closure in March 2021. She also hosted and produced Follow-Up, a HuffPost Canada Politics podcast. She is the recipient of several digital media awards for her multi-media election coverage.
Prior to joining HuffPost, Althia was a national political reporter for Postmedia News and an Ottawa bureau reporter for QMI/Sun Media. She also worked as a network producer for CTV and as a producer for CBC Radio’s The House. Althia is a weekly contributor to CPAC’s French-language program “L’Essentiel” and the regular Friday guest on CPAC’s Today In Politics podcast. She is a founding member of apt613.ca, an award-winning not-for-profit arts and culture blog in Ottawa.
A graduate of McGill University, she now serves on the Board of Trustees of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada.
“As I swore my oath of office in the august chamber of the court, I spared a thought for Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby—the so-called Famous Five. I had long admired and striven to live up to their legacy, and I knew that without them, this moment would not have happened.
Sixty years after the Persons Case was decided, as I was sworn in as the third woman ever to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada, the path set by those early trailblazers was at the front of my mind. It was a moment of pride, tempered only by the thought of how many women in decades past had been denied the immense privilege of sitting on the country’s highest court.
What took us so long? I thought. And then, What is still holding us back?”
