Rosalie Silberman Abella

 

née Silberman.  Born July 1, 1946, Stuttgart, Germany. Rosalie was actually born in a displaced persons camp, one of several such camps
that sprang up after World War ll.  Rosalie and her family came to Canada in 1950 as refugees. December 8, 1968 she married Irving Martin Abella the the couple have two sons. She completed her education as a lawyer in 1970 at the University of Toronto and was called to the
Bar in 1972. She is  She became a Justice, Ontario Court of Appeal. A Human Rights activist, she was also the Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Equity in Employment. She is considered one of Canada's foremost experts on human rights law and has taught at McGill
Law School in Montreal.  August 30, 2004 she was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada to serve until 2021.  She was
named Global Jurist of the year for 2016 by Northwestern's Pritzker School of La's Centre for International Human Rights. Her advise to
young people is to not take advice...she says she would never have done what she has if she had listened to people...never headed a Royal Commission, maybe even never been a lawyer.  (2023)

Born 1891. Died 1975. Gertrude worked as a typist in the Belleville, Ontario City Clerk's Office when she decided to study law. Gertrude was called to the Bar in 1916. She practiced in Trenton as the town's first woman lawyer and then Belleville for many years with the firm of
Mikel & Alford. She would also work for the Department of the Ontario Attorney General. Not on find a Grave 2024

Born February 10, 1947, Montreal, Quebec. Louise received her Bachelor of Arts and her Law degree from McGill University and was
admitted to the Bar in Ontario in 1977. She began her career as a research officer for the Law Reform Commission and was a professor
and Associate Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School from 1974-1987. She was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario in 1987 and the
Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1990. She served as president of a commission of Inquiry to investigate and report on the Prison for Women
in Kingston, Ontario  and in 1996 she was Chief Prosecutor of the War Crimes before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia. In 1999 she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. In 2004 she was appointed to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights. May 18, 2011 she won the Lincoln Alexander Outstanding Leader Award  from the College of Management
and Economics which recognizes exemplary and dedicated Canadian leaders whose careers have included ground breaking, socially
significant pursuits.  Sources: Guelph Alumnus Fall 2011.

Constance Barbara Backhouse

Annie Epstein Baker

née Epstein. Born 1908. Died 2005. Annie earned her Bachelor of Arts degree and then went on to study at Osgoode Law School in
Toronto. She  was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1929. Annie may have been the first Jewish woman called to the Bar in Ontario. Source
Diversifying the Bar: Lawyers make history. Online (accessed May 2013.) (2023)

née Barrette. Born 1933. Died January 2023, Montreal, Quebec. Claire graduated in law from the Université de Montréal and was
admitted to the Bar in 1957. Claire married Claude Joncas (1930-2008) and the couple had two children. In 1958 Claire was the first
woman to plead before the Montreal criminal assizes (court). In 1962 she became the first woman to be president of the Young Bar Association of Montreal. From 1968 through to 1975 she worked with the Philippe Pinel Association and would serve on the board of
directors. In 1975 she was named as a judge. of the Quebec Supreme Court. She would serve for many years with the Law Reform Commission of Canada. She taught criminal law at the University of Montreal and McGill University. In 2002 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Golden Jubilee Medal for her contribution to her community. In 2006 she received the highest distinction from the
Bar in Montreal, La Médaille du Barreau. She worked as a magistrate and worked until she retired at 75. Source: Obituary, Montreal Gazette online
(accessed 2024); Montreal Bar. 2005-2006 The Honourable Claire Barrette-Joncas online (accessed 2024.Suggestion from Laura Scully.

Myrtle was encouraged to become a lawyer by her father. After earning her Bachelor of Arts she entered Osgoode Law School and was
called to the bar in Ontario in 1960. She was the second woman of colour in Canada and the first Black woman lawyer in Ontario. She
worked as a solicitor with the Ontario Department of Economics from 1964 through 1966 and then with the Ontario Housing Corporation.
In the mid 1960's she married I. Smith and later relocated to Montreal, Quebec. (2023)

Margaret Bloodworth

Janet Lang Boland


 

Born December 6, 1923, Kitchener, Ontario. Died February 19, 2019, Toronto, Ontario. Janet, like her mother before her, attended Kenwood
Convent of the Sacred Heart, Albany, New York, U.S.A. Janet graduated from Waterloo Lutheran College (now Laurier University) with her
Bachelor of Arts in 1946. While at Laurier University she was editor of the school newspaper and president of the student body. She studied at Osgoode Law School, Toronto, and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1950. In 1949 she married John Boland (died 1976)  and the couple
had three children. At the time, few women studied and practiced law. However while bringing up her family she had a success law practice
and was the second woman to become a judge when she was appointed judge to the County Court in 1972. In 1976 she was appointed to
the Ontario Supreme Court in 1976. Following revolutionary family law legislation, Boland attended Judicial College in Nevada, U.S.A. to
study American procedures. Intrigued with a new concept of joint custody, she introduced the principle in the first Canadian decision
regarding the matter, in Baker v Baker. The Ontario Appeal Court found “no such status” but fortunately the Ontario legislature quickly
 jumped in and recognized the principle, breaking legal ground in Canada and helping to establish the principle of joint custody around
the world. Janet married for a second time to Dr. Taylor 'Tay' Statten (1915- 2016).  In 2011 she was recognized as one of the 100 top
alumni of Laurier University. A golfing enthusiast she served a president of the Canadian Women's Senior Golf Association and golfed well
 into her 90's. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online accessed January 2013.: Who’s Who of Canadian Women 1999-2999; Obituary, Humphrey Funeral Home, Toronto. 2019 online
 (accessed 2022)

Born 1903, Ottawa, Ontario. Died January 15, 1997, Ottawa, Ontario. Henriette graduated from the University of Ottawa prior to becoming a law student in Montreal. Henriette was the second woman to register in the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal. She was the only woman in the class of 1931. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1933 as first in her class of 80 students. During her time at university she earned the Prix Berthelot. Prix Sir Lomer-Gouin, Prix Mailhot, Prix Joel-Leduc, Prix Jetté-Campbell, Prix Larue, and the Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Execllence. At the time of her graduation the Quebec bar did not accept women as lawyers. Henriette went to British Columbia where she was recognized by the provincial Bar Association. After graduation she worked with lawyer Emery Beaulieu as his assistant when he was president of the Canadian Bar Association. In 1939 she was hired as the first woman law clerk in the Department of Justice in the federal government of Canada. She worked ten years in the Department without ever receiving a promotion even after she had been recognized by the Quebec Bar Association. She resigned her position in 1949.  By 1952  she had earned a diplome en droit (PhD) from the Université de Paris in France. When she could not obtain suitable employment in Canada she returned to Europe spending ten year in Fatime, Portugal before setting in Jerusalem before she returned to live in her home town of Ottawa. A Plaque on Wellington St, Ottawa, near the Department of Justice building declares her as first women lawyer in the Department. Source: The Rise of the Civilians, the First Civilians at the Department of Justice 1867-1952/ The long Road to Recognition: Out of the Shadows: the Civil Law Tradition in the Department of Justice Canada, 1868-2000, Department of Justice, Online (accessed 2025); Historical Marker Database, Downtown Ottawa,  Online (accessed 2025)

Marjorie Bowker

Born 1906, Prince Edward Island, Died August  2006, Alberta. Marjorie graduated from the University of Alberta in 1939 and began her legal
career. In 1966 she was appointed Alberta’s first woman family Court judge, a position she worked hard at for almost 20 years. Married
and with a family of three children herself she had a strong sense of family.  A staunch defender of the rights of women prisoners, she was
paramount in the establishment of the Edmonton Institution for Women which was set up after the decision to close the notorious Prison for
Women in Kingston, Ontario. The Free Trade Debate of 1988 caught her full attention and she created a 60 page document criticism of the
agreement itself. The published book became a best seller. The retired judge saw a chance to be a catalyst in this national dialogue and
she took her ideas to the readers. She and her husband Wilber, former Dean of the Law School, University of Alberta, were inducted into
the Order of Canada in 1990. In 1995 she was honoured as one of seven pioneer women judges of Canada by the Canadian Judicial
Council. Source: Marjorie Bowker, 90, judge, best selling author. Toronto Star, September 5, 2006. (accessed 2022)

Born May 18, 1932, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died  March 25, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Educated in Winnipeg schools Myrna worked
initially as a secretary. In 1955 she married David E. Bowman, after which she attended university, first in arts and later in law, called to the
Manitoba Bar in March 1966. From 1968 to 1983, she was in partnership with her husband in the firm of Bowman and Bowman. She
was an active member of the Canadian Bar Association and the Manitoba Bar Association. In 1969 she chaired the Manitoba
Censorship Review Board and, from 1978 to 1983, served as an Elected Bencher of the Law Society of Manitoba. 1971-1977 she was appointed a part-time Provincial Judge, and also acted as a member of the Manitoba Law Reform Commission. 1976-1983 she served
as an Executive Member of the Manitoba Trial Lawyers Association. In 1978 a consultant to the Government of Manitoba-Family Law
Review Committee, which lead to enrolment of a new Family Maintenance and Marital Property Act. She also lectured in Family Law
for the Bar Admission Course of the Law Society of Manitoba. In 1981 she was appointed Queens Counsel and, in October 1983, a
judge of the Court of Queen's Bench, where she served in the Family Division from 1984 until her death. In addition to her professional activities, she served at various times as board member or chair for the Unitarian Church of Winnipeg, Parents Without Partners,
Advisory Board of Y W C A of Winnipeg, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, Skills Unlimited, and the Canada Pension Plan Advisory Committee. Debilitated by the effects of Parkinson’s disease, she elected to end her own life. Sources: Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press , 27 March 2004;
Memorable Manitobans. Profile by Gordon Goldsborough (accessed December 2011) (2022)

Jean Cairnes- Morris

née Cairnes. Born October 31,1886. Died April 18, 1982. Jean earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in 1910. When she was a student male students would pound on their desks as a sign of contempt for her being there. Jean studied law and was the 5th woman to be called to the bar in Ontario in 1913. She married Philip Reginald Morris in 1917 In 1929, with the great crash of the stock market their finances were ruined and Philip became a prospector while Jean carried on with the family law firm. She was the 1st woman member of the Hamilton (Ontario) Law Association. She practiced with her husband in Hamilton and later she was joined in the family firm by her daughter, Alma Malcolm, in 1959. Her grandson Alexander C. Malcolm carries on the family law firm. Jean retired from law in 1967 when she was 81 years old.  Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history. Law Society of Upper Canada Online; Hamilton Law Association. online (accessed 2023)

Born August 1894. Died May 1, 1980, Amherstburg, Ontario. Josephine earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and after attending Osgoode Law School she was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1919 and was the first woman to practice law in Essex County. In the
1930's she had an extensive real estate and estates law practice in Windsor. She Married Grover Cleveland Scott (1895-1978) and continued her law practice. In 1950 she became the fourth woman to become a Queens Council. Josephine retired from practicing law in July 1968.  Sources: Obituary, The Amherstburg Echo May 7, 1980; Find a Grave Canada (accessed 2023)

née Munn. Born October 11, 1923, Cromer, Manitoba. Died October 1, 2010, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In 1938 the Munn family
relocated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After high school Mary attended the University of Saskatchewan where she earned a Bachelor
of Arts with distinction in 1944. She follow with post graduated studies in law graduating in 1947. That same year she married lawyer
Roger Carter. After a few year with a local law firm the couple opened their own law firm where she worked from 1948 through 1953.
She left the law practice to have a family of six children. In 1960 she became the second woman to be appointed a magistrate in Saskatchewan. In 1978 she was elevated to Saskatchewan District Court. In 1881 the unified family court system was established and
she became a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench until she retired in 1998. Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022)

née Robinson. Born 1897?. Died 1979. After obtaining her Bachelor of Arts degree Vera continued her education at Osgoode Law
School and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1920. She entered into a law partnership with another early woman lawyer, Helen Currie.
 Later she became a law librarian at the Phillips Stewart Library at Osgoode Hall in 1927 and then at the York County Law Library in
1930. She was a member of the Women's Law Association and served as president in 1928. In 1935 she married Henry L. Cartwright,
a fellow Lawyer in Kingston, Ontario. She became a partner in her husband's law firm. (2023) Not on find a grave 2024

Born 1923?. Died September 8, 2019, Montreal, Quebec. In 1945 she graduated cume laude from studies with the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal.  She went on to study at Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A. the University of Paris, France, and the University of Oxford, England. She earned her doctorate (PhD) from the Sorbonne, Paris, France in 1949 becoming the firs Canadian to obtain a doctorate of law. She opened her own law firm in Montreal. She went on to found the Association de avocated de la Province de Québec in 1952. She was also co-founder of the Société de femmes universitaires de Montréal. Source: The Great Pioneers, Faculty of Law, University of Montreal, Online (accessed 2025)

In 1956 she entered studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal and graduated in May 1959. She was sworn in as a notary on October 11, 1960 becoming the first woman in Quebec to practice the profession. In 1988 she became the first woman secretary general of Concordia University in Montreal. Source Source: The Great Pioneers, Faculty of Law, University of Montreal, Online (accessed 2025)

Louise V. Charron

Born March 2, 1951, Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. Louise received a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University, Ottawa, in 1972 and a law degree
from the University of Ottawa in 1975. Called to the Ontario Bar in 1977, she practiced law with the firm of Lalonde & Chartrand from 1977
to 1980, mostly in civil and criminal litigation. She served as Assistant Crown Attorney for the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton from 1978
to 1988. She was a lecturer in the French common law section of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law from 1978 to 1985, and was an
Assistant Professor, until 1988. She was appointed a District Court Judge and Local Judge of the High Court of Ontario in Ottawa in 1988
and Judge of the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division) in 1990. She was Associate Director of the National Judicial Institute from 1994
to 1996 and was appointed Judge of the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1995 and Deputy Judge of the Nunavut Court of Justice from 1999 to
2004. She was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on August 30, 2004. She was elected to honorary fellowship in the American
College of Trial Lawyers in 2007. Justice Charron retired on August 30, 2011. She is married to William Blake and has one child,  and two
step-sons. Sources: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history. Law Society of Upper Canada Online ; Supreme Court of Canada  online. (accessed January 2013). (2022)

Born 1951 Busan, South Korea. Meeriae graduated Ewha Women’s University in Korea majoring in English. She worked in human rights
and as a reporter for the Korean Times before deciding to immigrate to Canada. She co-founded Korean Canadian Women’s Association
and the Canadian Coalition for Comfort Women Redress. She was a teacher in Toronto and worked with the Toronto Labour Education
Centre, and the Refugee Board, Ottawa when she decided that she would study Law at the University of Ottawa. She was called to the
Bar in Ontario in 2002 and practices law in Toronto. In 2006 she was vice President of the Korean Canadian Cultural Association of
Metropolitan Toronto. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online accessed January 2013. (2022)

Born 1919, Toronto, Ontario. Died 2003. Olga studied law and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1944 becoming the first woman lawyer of
Ukrainian heritage in the province. In 1946 she married Doctor Martin Chepesiuk but did not give up her law practice. All her life she was
an active advocate for Ukrainian culture and traditions. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers making history. Biographies of Early Exceptional Ontario Lawyers. Online (accessed
January 2013) (2022).

Born April 27, 1886, Paisley, Ontario. Died 1956, Edmonton, Alberta. Ruby moved two western Canada with her family in 1901 and
settled in Strathcona (now Edmonton), Alberta and then in 1903 to Vegreville. In 1905 she graduated high school and headed to
Hamilton, Ontario to  attend McMaster University and graduating in 1912. She articled for her law studies  with the firm of Landry
Morrison in Vagreville. She would take additional courses to qualify for her Law degree from the University of Alberta. In 1915 she was
the first woman to complete  the requirements to be admitted to the Bar in Alberta.  Lillian was the first female student to graduate from
 the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. Sadly she never did practice law. She married businessman Chester Gainer. Active in her
home community she would become the provincial vice president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (W C T U) and in 1939
vice president of the Edmonton branch of the Council of Women. From 1943 through 1945 she was president of the Women's Canadian Club and in 1943 she was the first vice president of the Women's Missionary Auxiliary of the Baptist Union of Western Canada. Source: Ruby Clements: Pioneer for Women in Law, University of Alberta online (accessed 2024)

Timima Mamie Littner Cohn
 

Born 1951, Brandon, Manitoba. Died September 1,1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba. . Cheryl graduated Brandon University, Manitoba in 1951 and
then attended Manitoba Law School. She was called to the Bar in Manitoba in 1977. She practiced family law with Arpin and Company. She
was made a Queen's Councel, recognizing her exceptional professional ability and was appointed a judge in the Family Division of the
Manitoba Court Queen's Bench. She would become the first woman president of the Manitoba Bar Association in 1985. Source: Memorable
Manitobans (accessed 2022) not on find a grave 2024

Mary Elizabeth Dawson

Born June 24, 1942, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died December 4, 2023, Ottawa, Ontario. Mary graduated from McGill University, Montreal,
Quebec, in 1966 with a Bachelor of Civil Law and went on to graduate from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia with a post
graduate law degree. She also earned a Diplôme d’etudes supérieures en droit from the University of Ottawa. She has taken the Bar in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. In 1970 she began  working at the Canadian Department of Justice. And drafted such laws as the
Access to Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Canada Health Act, and the Official Languages Act among others.  She retired in 2005
as Associate Deputy Minister. In 1999 through2000 she was a Skelton-Clark Fellow at Queen’s University. After retiring in 2006 she was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Ottawa General Hospital and served on numerous other boards. In the pas she held
executive positions in the International Bar Association and was a Canadian member of the Joint Steering Committee of the Joint
Canada-Russia project on Public Administration Reform in Russia. In 2007 she was appointed a member of the Order of Canada. Source:
Obituary, Ottawa Citizen, January 6, 2024. (accessed 2024)

née Denton. Born 1891. Laura studied law at university and was the 20th woman called to the Bar in Ontario in 1920. She was a
co-founder  of  the Women’s Law Association and organized its first meeting in 1919 at her father’s law offices. The women lawyers set
up their own organization as they were not allowed in professional law associations. There was a need for young women lawyers to
continue professional development, to have networking and advocacy.  She and her brother, Frank Denton, carried on their father’s
practice after his death. She married George Duff and the couple had one son. She served as an elected member of the Senate of
Victoria College, University of Toronto for many years. Source: Diversifying the Bar; lawyers making history. Online (accessed May 2013). (2023)

Marlys Anne Edwards

Born March 6, 1950. After earning her Bachelor of Arts. from Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario and graduating from Osgoode Hall Law
School Marlys went on to hear a Master of Laws degree from the University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.  She was called to the
Bar in Ontario in 1976. She is one of the 1st women  to practice criminal law in Canada. She fought to overturn the wrongful convictions of
Donald Marshall, Guy Paul Morin and Steven Truscott. She would represent the wrongly accused Maher Arar in the commission
investigating his deportation to Syria from the U.S.A. and his subsequent torture. She has served on Royal commissions and official
Inquiries. In 2005 she opposed Bill C-49 on human trafficking and was the 1st person to receive the Canadian Journalists for Free
Expression Vox Libera Award.  She represented the National Post newspaper regarding freedom of the press and the right to protect
confidential sources. After working from 1976 to 2008 for the firm of Ruby Edwardh she formed her own firm Marlys Edwardh Barristers
and has joined the partnership of Sack Goldblat Mitchell In 2010 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her contributions as a lawyer and volunteer and as a champion of civil liberties and human rights. (2020)

Born 1942, Ritches, Clarendon, Jamaica. The Espinet family relocated to  London, England prior to immigrating to Canada and settling in  Toronto, Ontario. Thora graduated with at Bachelor of Arts from York University in Toronto and went on to attend Windsor Law and was called to the Bar in 1984. She was the only Black woman Lawyer in Ontario in 1984. In private practice she specialized in Child welfare, family, and criminal law. She served as chair of the Canadian Pension Plan Tribunal from 1996 through to 2005.  From 2008 to 2017 she was a Toronto Small Claims Court Deputy Judge. She also taught at Centennial College. She served as a board member for the Minister's Working Group on Child and Family Well Being, as an executive member of Tropicana Community Services, and a board member of the Deputy Judges Association and as executive vice president of People Bridge Charitable Foundation.  She has earned from the Law Society of Upper Canada the Lincoln Alexander Pioneer Award which is present for early and exceptional Ontario Lawyers of diverse communities. She has also received the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women Award,  S N A P Newspaper Certificate of Excellence,. She has been recognized by the City of Scarborough & University of Toronto in celebration of Canada's sesquicentennial as a community and nation builder in 2018. In 2021 the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor established the Thora H. Ellis-Espinet Black initiative which is an annual scholarship in honour of Thora as a pioneering law alumnus. Source: Biographies by Divers Community, Law Society of Ontario. online (accessed 2024)

Edra Isles  Ferguson

née Sanders. Born August 12, 1907, St Thomas, Ontario. Died November 15, 2011, Toronto, Ontario. Edra completed her undergraduate studies at Alma College, St Thomas, Ontario, and then attended law school in the 1920’s. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1930. She joined her father’s law firm of Saunders & Ingrham. In 1936 she was elected as the town’s 1st woman alderman but In December 1937 she ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of St Thomas. She married Donald Harvey Ferguson and the couple had two children. She was the 1st woman judge to be named to the Small Claims Court when it was established. From 1940-1943 she National Council of Women of Canada leading the National Convention on laws concerning woman and children. Also in the 1940’s she initiated a Red Cross Clinic in Guelph, Ontario. She became the 1st woman president of the St Thomas Children’s Aid Society and the 1st woman appointed to the Senate of the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. Many Toronto Lawyers new her affectionately as Ma Ferguson. In 2002 she received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and in 2011 she was inducted into the Order of Canada, for her achievements in law, politics and her advocacy of women’s rights.  The University of Victoria offers the Edra Saunders Ferguson Scholarship in her honour.  Sources: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online accessed January 2013. Obituary, St Thomas Times Journal November 2011. (2020): Dr. Edra Isles Sanders Ferguson 1907-2011  Elgin County Archives newspaper clipping online (accessed 2024)

Frances 'Frank' Lillian Fish

Born December 18, 1888, Newcastle, New Brunswick. Died October 27, 1975, Chatham, New Brunswick. She studied at the University of
New Brunswick and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1910. At school she enjoyed an active life that included basketball and ice hockey. She obtained her teaching license teaching 1911/12 in Winnipeg where she did not enjoy good health. She returned to New Brunswick teaching for another three years. During this time she also earned in 1913 her M.A. from the University of Chicago. She thought of doing a PhD but did not complete the program. On September 10, 1918, she was one the 1st woman to graduate Dalhousie University with a Law Degree. And she was the first woman called to the Bar in Nova Scotia. She was the 7th woman in Canada to become a lawyer. Shortly after
graduation she left the Maritimes working as a paralegal in Ottawa and later in Montreal. In February 1934 she was called to the Bar in her
home province of New Brunswick and in June of that year she became the first woman to argue a case before the appeal Division of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. New Brunswick woman were legislated the  right to vote in 1919 but they were not allowed to run for a
 seat in the Legislature until 1934. The following year Frances Fish was the 1st woman to be elected to the New Brunswick
Legislature. In 1947 she was New Brunswick’s first female County Deputy Magistrate.   Sources: New Brunswick Women’s
History (accessed 2012). “Everyone called her Frank…” by Barry Cahill, Journal of New Brunswick Studies Vol. 2 2011 Online (accessed June 2013). Dictionary of Miramichi Biography, online (accessed 2024)

Mabel Priscilla Penery French-Clay

 

née French. Born June 4, 1881. Died January 13, 1955, St. Helier, Jersey. After graduating with distinction and as the first woman in law
from King’s College in 1905 she petitioned to be admitted to the Bar in New Brunswick. She was originally denied because she was not, according to definition, a “person”. Applying pressure in various ways she became the 1st woman lawyer in New Brunswick. In 1907 New Brunswick passed a statute to permit women to be admitted to the legal profession. By 1910 Mabel had resettled in British Columbia and
was again applying for admittance to the Bar. Once again the provincial law association declared that she was not a “person” and therefore
could not be admitted to the Bar in the province of British Columbia. Once again pressure was applied, mainly from womens groups in the province and in February Attorney General William Bowser bowed to pressure and introduced An Act to Remove the Disability of Women
So Far as Relates to the Study and Practice of Law. The Act passed with unanimous support in the provincial Legislature. In 1912 Mabel
French became the first woman lawyer admitted to the Bar in British Columbia. Source: Women Lawyers in British Columbia by W. Wesley Pue. Online (accessed
March 2014)

Constance Garner- Short

Born 1910, Montreal, Quebec. Died 1959. She attended McGill University, Montreal and obtained a law degree in 1934. As women were still
not called to the Bar in the province of Quebec at this time she sought work as best she could. She worked for the Portuguese Consulate and at the beginning of World War ll she joined the Red Cross Transportation Service as a driver. On January 10, 1942 she was one of four
women she were the first called to the Bar in Quebec. The other women were Elizabeth Monk (1898-1980), Suzanne Raymond Filion and
Marcelle Hémond-Lacoste. Constance was in 1947 the 1st woman to appear in the Quebec Court of Appeals. Source: The History of
McMaster, Meighen (Law firm) by Doug Metchell and Judy Slinm. McGill-Queen’s Press 1989

Born November 3, 1943, Joliette, Quebec. Died September 20, 2016, Quebec City, Quebec. Paule studied for her law degree at Laval University in Quebec City in 1969. A senior partner in the law firm of Desjardins Ducharme Stein Monast and she specializes in corporate and commercial law. In 1984 she was appointed to the Security Intelligence Review Committee which overseas the Canadian Intelligence Security Service (C S I S). She was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada in accordance with the Official Secrets Act. She served as chair of SIR from 1996-2005. She has served on numerous corporate and government boards an was the first woman to become president of the Canadian Bar Association (1992--93) In 1990 she was made and Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2001 she was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec. Source: Necrologie, Lepine Cloutier, Septembre 30, 2016, (Consulte 2016)

Born September 3, 1903, Montreal, Quebec. Died May 25, 1960, Montreal, Quebec.  September 10, 1925 Juliette enrolled  in the University of Montreal and graduated in the spring of 1928 as the first woman with a degree in law. She never practiced law since at that time women were not admitted to the Barreau du Québec or the Chambre des notaires du Québec.  She did work for a year in a law firm. She married Richard Fleming from Carlton, Australia on August 28, 1936 in Dorval, Quebec and was the mother of four sons. Source: The Great Pioneers, University of Montreal, Online (accessed 2025)

Margaret Jean Gee

Asian - Canadian Lawyer

Born December 10, 1927, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died July 17, 1995, Vancouver, British Columbia.. Margaret grew up during a period in Canada when the Canadian law discriminated against Chinese immigrants. Margaret was the first woman of Chinese descent to be a
Pilot Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force Reserves. Just three years after the provincial Law Society lifted restrictions against women
 of Chinese origin from becoming lawyers in 1947 Margaret was attending law school at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In 1953
she was the first woman of Chinese descent to graduate in Law from UBC.  in 1953. May 31, 1954 Margaret was the first woman of
Chinese descent to be called to the Bar in British Columbia. Margaret opened her own law office in Vancouver in August 1955 becoming
the first Chinese-Canadian woman to practice law in British Columbia. She retired from her legal practice in 1981. Her life partner was
Robert Wah Jew Lee. Source: Noteworthy Canadians of Asian Heritage. online (accessed 2023); The Canadian Encyclopedia online (accessed 2023) .  

Linda Marie Giesbrecht

Born July 25, 1952, Altona, Manitoba. Died May 17, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In May 1976 Linda graduated from law at the University of
Manitoba and was called to the Bar in that province in 1977. She served as Crown Attorney in Winnipeg and then in Dauphin, Manitoba
until 1981. After a year of travel she returned to the position of Crown Attorney in Portage La Prairie. In March 1988 she was appointed to
the bench and served as a judge until she retired in 2010. Although offered promotions she preferred to serve as a judge and work for the
people. She was the first female president of the Manitoba Provincial Judges Association, 2000-2002. While she never married she remained
close to family and loved her role as “auntie” to 16 nieces and nephews. The Women’s Lawyer Forum of the Canadian Bar Association
celebrated her lifetime contributions to their profession. Source: Lives Lived by Mary Kate Harvie, The Globe and Mail, October 23, 2013. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon,
Ottawa, Ontario.

Constance R. Glube

née Lepofky Born November 23, 1931, Ottawa, Ontario. Died February 15, 2016, Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1952 Constance earned her Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, Montreal and married Richard Glube. The couple would have 4 children. By 1955 she had graduated in law at Dalhousie University and entered the Bar of Nova Scotia. In 1974 she became the Manager of the City of Halifax, the first  woman in Canada to hold such a position. In 1977 she received the Award of Merit from a grateful City of Halifax. September 21, 1977.  She was appointed on March 8,  1982  21st Chief Justice of Nova Scotia and first woman to hold the position. In 1998 she was appointed as Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal of Nova Scotia, once again being the first woman in Canada to be appointed to such a position retiring in 2004. She is a judicial leader and mentor who has the admiration and respect of her peers. She has been active in judicial education and court administration. She has graciously served on various and numerous professional and volunteer boards and committees at local, provincial and national levels. Accolades for her services have included: The Canada 125 Medal, 1992; the Frances Fish Award, a women lawyers Achievement Award, 1997; The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award, 2002; the International Honours Society Golden Key Award, 2003; numerous honorary doctorate degrees from universities; Honourary member of the Canadian Bar Association, 2004; the Order of Nova Scotia 2005 and the Order of Canada , 2006.  Sources: Protocol Office, Order of Nova Scotia Recipients  (accessed August 2008); Canadian Who’s Who. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006. (accessed 2008)

née Bennett. Born February 14, 1914, Calgary, Alberta. Died December 10, 2002, Calgary, Alberta. Ruth was one of two women studied law at the University of Alberta in 1939. She was called to the bar in 1940. Throughout her professional legal life she willing provided
volunteer services for aboriginal issues, the disabled, and others who were in need. She was the legal convener of the local Calgary
Council of Women. She even fought to public washrooms for women!  She also had an interest in publishing and became publisher
and editor of the Golden West Magazine. In 1946 she became the unpaid legal advisor for the Indian Association of Alberta. She was Calgary's Woman of the Year in1960), Citizen of the Year in 1961, and was awarded the Alberta Woman of the Century Medal the same year. In 1968 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Along with the 1988 Legal Humanities Award she received the 1991 Lifetime Achievement Award form the Calgary Access Awareness. She was also extremely proud to have been awarded the title of Queen
Mother of the Cree and Princess of the Stony Indian Tribe of Alberta. Source: Ruth Gorman (1914-2002), Alberta Champions online (accessed 2024)

née Wong. Born July 31, 1921, London, Ontario. Died February 24, 2024, London, Ontario. Gretta was raised in London Ontario where her family were the only Chinese people in town. Her father believed that all his children, both boys and girls should get an education and study for the professions. Gretta argued with family members when she was young and they teased her saying that she should become a lawyer. Gretta earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario in London before attending Osgoode Law School. She was  called to the bar in 1946 in Ontario without knowing nor really caring that she was the 1st Chinese Canadian woman to practice Law. Despite the discrimination against the Chinese  in Toronto she was able to complete her articling at McCarthy and McCarthy where she reported to a family acquaintance Leighton McCarthy. December 9, 1950 she married a fellow lawyer James Alan R. Grant and the couple would have four children. Gretta stayed at home much of the 1950’s raising her children but she maintained her membership in the Low Society of Upper Canada. She also kept up to date by working with her husband when he brought work home. Late in the 1950’s she took a job as a City Solicitor in London. In the 1960’s she founded the Middlesex [county] Women’s Law Association. From 1967 through 1988 she worked in London’s first Legal Aid Office. She did spend one year away from London working as the Area Director of the York County Legal Aid Society. She was the 1st woman trustee of the Middlesex Law Association and served as president in 1981. After retirement she served as director of the London office of the Chinese – Canadian Council. In 1989 she was working with the City of London Race Relations Advisory Committee. In 2000 she was honoured with the Law Society Medal from the Law Society of Upper Canada. Sources: Crossing the Bar:an exhibition of the Law Society of Upper Canada Museum, 1993. Online (accessed January 2013); Gretta Wong Grant, Canada’s first Chinese-Canadian female Lawyer by Constance Backhouse. Online (accessed January 2013); Road to Justice: the legal struggle for equal rights for Chinese Canadians. Online (accessed January 2013).  

Born 1890?, England. Died May 20, 1951, Regina, Saskatchewan. In 1912. Dorothy immigrated to Canada and settled in Regina, Saskatchewan. She worked with the Saskatchewan Treasury Department but soon transferred to the Attorney General's Department. While working  with this office she studied for her law degree graduating in 1925 from the University of Saskatchewan. In 1926 she was called to the Barr in Saskatchewan. By the early 1930's she a provincial Law Officer and was helping  veterans estates. In 1948 she was appointed a King's Councel. She was an active member of the Civil Service Association. She also enjoyed sports and was an active member of the Regina Civil Service Tennis Club and the Wascana Winter Club. A feminist she was a well known lecturer throughout the province. Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022); Find a grave online (accessed 2024)

née Gregory. Born January 7, 1864, Hamilton, Ontario. Died February 27, 1947, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.. Helen was the first woman to graduate from Trinity College of the University of Toronto and the first woman in the British Empire to receive a degree in Music. Her dream was to become a concert pianist. Helen went  on to earn her Masters Degree in 1889. In 1890 Helen had a job as a foreign correspondent for Cosmopolitan magazine which sent her to Japan. As a journalist she also wrote articles which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Toronto Globe, the Vancouver Daily World, and People's Magazine. In 1890 she married F. C. 'Lee'' Flesher  after a whirlwind courtship. Sadly Lee died in 1901 leaving Helen with two small boys to be cared for. In 1902 Helen married James 'Jim' Henry MacGill and the couple had two daughters. She was a member of the University Women's Club where she was served as president and was chairman of the Committee for Better Laws for Women and Children in British Columbia. In 1909 she was a founding member of the Vancouver branch of the Canadian Women's Press Club and was also a founding member of the Vancouver Music Society. In 1911 she spearheaded a group of 12 women's organizations to purchase the Vancouver Women's Building which provided meeting space for women's groups, classes writing, speaking, and conduct and even provided inexpensive day care. It was the first such centre in Canada. In 1912 she self-published her book, Daughters, Wives, and Mothers in British Columbia - some Laws Affecting them.  When women were granted the vote and the right to run for and be appointed to public office in 1917 she was the 1st woman of the region to be appointed a judge of the juvenile Court. She would hold this post for 23 years retiring at the age of 81. During her time as judge she studied juvenile delinquency and worked to improve the social welfare system. She was also a feminist advocating for women's rights, the right to vote, and for changes for both women and children in legal reform. She was a member of the British Columbia Minimum Wage Board and a co-founder of the Vancouver Business and Professional Women's Club in 1923. She also was a staunch supporter of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Womens' Clubs which she saw formed in 1930. She was also a member of the International Juvenile Court Judges Association and the Welfare Subcommittee of the United Nations. One of her daughters, Elsie Gregory MacGill (1905-1980), would inherit her feminist outlook. Elsie would writer her mother's biography, My Mother the Judge: A Biography of Helen Gregory MacGill, published in 1955. Source: Source: My Mother the Judge by Elsie Gregory McGill, (Toronto; Ryerson Press, 1955).

Helen Grossman

Born 1905?, Zitomar, Russia. Died 1988. Helen studied law at Osgoode all, Toronto, and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1929. She was
one of the early Jewish women lawyers. In 1930, she began a career with the Agricultural Development Board of Ontario. She became a
Queen’s Council and the Helen Grossman QC Prize at Osgoode Hall is given each year to the student in the Community and Legal Aid
Services Program. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make History. Law Society of Upper Canada Online (accessed 2013)

Born 1952. Mabel studied law after she graduated from University and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1995. As a student at Osgoode Hall
Law School, Toronto, she helped to establish the Intensive Program in First Nations Lands, Resources and Governance in 1993. She is Ojibwa, of the M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island, and is one of the 1st aboriginal lawyers in Ontario. She has worked as an adjudicator in the Grandview School for Girls Settlement and in the Indian Residential Schools adjudication. She was elected a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2007. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history. Law Society of Upper Canada Online

née Hazelton, Born September 2, 1926, Lindsay, Ontario.  Died June 3, 2021, Lindsay, Ontario. Kay graduated from Lindsay Collegiate Institute in 1943. A year later, when they were both only 17, Kay married Harry Hawkins (died 1999). Kay worked for Victoria County until 1957 when she took a ob with the Provincial Court Offices as court clerk, She was the first woman in Lindsay's legal field. Kay would serve as justice of the peace for nearly two decades, issuing subpoenas, summonses and warrants, swear affidavits and perform marriages. Kay always seemed to listen to the stories of the accused hoping to advise and guide them so she would not see them again in her court. During her career she would perform more than 1,100 marriages. Kay was an active volunteer with the Canadian Cancer Society for more than 40 years and with the Ross Memorial Hospital Ladies Auxiliary for more than 30 years. She was well known as she drove her route for Meals on Wheels. Source: Obituary The Lindsay Advocate June 2021. (accessed 2022)

Marcelle Valerie Clarisse Hémond -Lacoste

Born 1877? On January 12, 1934, Marcelle graduated as the third woman to enter studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal. She graduated with her bachelor of Laws on December 19, 1936. On January 10 1942 Marcelle was one of four women who were the first women admitted to the Bar in the Province of Quebec. April 15, 1944 she married Roger Lacoste. In 1954 she became the first president of the Association de femmes avocates de la province de Québec. In 1956 she was the first woman appointed to the Queen's Councel.
May 18, 1966 she retired after 60 years as President of the Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montreal. She was 89 years old when she retired. The Salle Marcelle-Lacoste at the Centre hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montreal,  is named in her honour. Source: The Great Pioneers, Faculty of Law, University of Montreal, Online (accessed 2025); Hémond & Soucy Genealogy, Online (accessed 2025); Our History, Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte Justine, Online (accessed 2025)

née King. Born October 18, 1929, Calgary, Alberta. Died March 30, 1982, New York City, New York, U.S.A. Violet graduated from the University of Alberta where she had financed her studies by teaching piano lessons. Evan as far back as high school she had wanted to be a criminal lawyer so it was no surprise that she went on to study law. She was the only woman to graduate in her class in 1953 and the first Black Canadian to obtain a Law Degree in Alberta. June 2, 1954 she became the First Black Canadian to be admitted to the Bar in Alberta and the 1st Black woman to become a lawyer in Canada. She practiced criminal law in Calgary for a couple of years. Violet then relocated to Ottawa to work for the federal government at the Department of Citizenship from April 1956 through to 1962. In 1963 she relocated to Newark New Jersey, U.S.A. to work as executive Director of the YMCA community branch. In 1965 she married Godfrey C. Henry and the couple had one daughter. In 1969 she relocated to Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. still working with the Y M C A. In 1976 She became the 1st Woman appointed to an executive position with the Y M C A in the U.S.A. In 1998 she was inducted into the National Y W C A Hall of Fame. Source: Canadian Encyclopedia, Online (accessed 2020)

née Hewston. Born January 4, 1885, Barrie, Ontario. Died December 31, 1973/4, Woodbridge, Ontario. Grace was one of seven daughters of  Judge C. E. Hewson who served in Manitoulin Island and the Sudbury District of Ontario. Grace studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School. Called to the Bar in 1908, she was the fourth woman in Canada and the British Empire to become a lawyer. She left the law profession when on March 2, 1912, she married geologist Cyril Workman Knight in Toronto. Source: Law Society of Ontario. Online (accessed 2023); Kudge C. E. Hewson, Manitoulin Obituaries, Online reprinted from the Barrie Examiner, online (accessed 2024)

Alpha Isabella Hodgins

Born November 24, 1892, Lucan, Ontario. Died December 21, 1983, London, Ontario. Alpha studied law and was the first Ontario woman law student to earn a top class mark for commercial law. She practiced law in Bowmansville and Toronto, Ontario, working mainly in the area of wills and insurance trust agreements for insurance agencies. Later in her career she worked in mining law. She was an active member of the
Women’s Law Association of Ontario and served as president from 1933-1935. She was the first woman president of the
Northumberland Law association. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online (accessed January 20130: Law Society of Upper Canada Archives Blog, (accessed March 2013)

Margaret Paton Hyndman

Born August 7,1901 Palmerton, Ontario. Died January 18, 1991, Toronto, Ontario. Margaret studied law at Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1926. In 1936 she was made a King’s Council, the first Toronto woman to be appointed and the second women in the British Empire to be appointed to this position. During World War ll she helped establish free legal services for service man and women and their descendants. She served the Free France Movement during the war for which she was awarded a citation from Charles de Gaulle and in July 1959 she received a silver medal from the City of Paris. She fought for women to have the right to serve on juries. She was a member  who served as president from 1956-1959 of the Toronto Business and Professional Women’s Club and a founder of the Canadian Association of Consumers of which she served as president from 1946-1948. She was also president of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women which boasted of 300,00 members in 44 different countries. In 1967 she was a recipient for the Canadian Centennial Medal. In 1988 she was the recipient of the Governor General’s Persons Case Award and was inducted into the Order of Canada. Sources: Toronto Business and Professional Club, website (accessed March 19130; Margaret Hyndman, lawyer: no warm welcome 50 years ago, Ottawa Citizen June 13, 1976.

Barbara Louise Jackman

 

Born October 23, 1950. By 1972 Barbara had graduated with her Bachelor Degree from the University of Windsor in Ontario. She earned her Law degree from the University of Toronto and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1976. Her law specialty was Immigration law. She
became actively involved in law reform and has presented evidence before government committees of the House of
Commons and the Senate. She has authored numerous articles in law journals and published books on immigration law.
She has also argued cases before the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1993 she received the Vince Kelly Award from the
Centre for Refugee Studies at York University, Toronto. In 2003 she received a Low Society medal. In 2013 she earned
the Law Union of Ontario Annual Award. In 2018 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

Born 1965, Six Nations Grand River Territory, Ontario. Beverley's traditional name is Gowehgyuseh which mean's 'she's visiting'.
Beverley is a busy single mother of one daughter. Originally Beverley worked as a legal secretary before she decided to have a law
career of her own. In 1994 she graduated from the University of Windsor where she often took her daughter to class. While at university she founded the First Nations Law Students Society. By 200 she had received her Master's Degree from the University of Saskatchewan and she followed this up with earning a Doctorate (PhD) from the University of Calgary studying law, sociology, and Aboriginal health. Upon graduating she opened Bear Clan Consulting. In 2004 she produced Stolen Sisters Report for Amnesty International exposing racialized and sexualized violence versus Indigenous women in Canada. In 2008 she received the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case. From 2004 though 2012 she served as President of the Native Women's Association of Canada. During this time a government fund of $10 million for research into 500 of the Missing and murdered Indigenous women was launched. In 2014 Beverley worked with the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia. In 2026 she earned the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and Rule of Law from France and Germany. Beverley is also a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

née Jukes. Born July 14, 1860, New York City, New York, U.S.A. Died July 4, 1949, Calgary Alberta. Alice married Reuben Rupert Jamieson and when he became a general superintendent for the Canadian Pacific Railway the couple settled in Calgary Alberta and had four children. . In 1914 she was appointed  judge of a juvenile court in the British Empire. During the Lizzie Cyr case in 1917 it was argued that as a women she was incapable of holding the office of judge. Her position was upheld by the Alberta Supreme Court. Alice retired as a judge in 1932. In 2003 the Calgary Board of Education opened an all girls school and named it the Alice Jamieson Girls' Academy. In the winter of 2007 a new office tower was named in her honour. Source: Alberta Champions Society online (accessed 2024)

Born 1953, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario. A Mohawk and member of the Bear Clan, as a youth she loved to read because
even then she knew that education was important. At first, she wanted to be a medical doctor and even enrolled in medical school at McGill
University, Montreal. She quickly became intrigued with politics and decided that to solve issued for her people she should attend law
school at the University of Western Ontario, London. Graduating in 1976 she was the first aboriginal woman to become a lawyer in Canada! She was named to head the first Ontario Indian Commission and in 1982 she was the first non-parliamentarian to join a House of Commons Committee, the Special Task Force on Indian Self Government. December 1986 she began a ten year position as Ontario Ombudsman, the first woman and the first aboriginal person to hold this post. Roberta was elected Chief of Six Nations of the Grand River in November 2001, again the first woman to hold this post. She also ran in 2003 for National Chief but was defeated by Phil Fontaine. She has over the years also participated on several boards and committees at various local, provincial and national levels. She is the founding chair of the Imagine Native, an international media arts festival showcasing work of world indigenous artists. Married with one daughter she is also proud to be a grandmother. Life has brought her many awards for her achievements to date, including multiple honorary doctorate, a membership in the Order of Canada, 1994 and the National Aboriginal Award in 1998.  Source: Roberta Jamieson: Chief Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Contemporary Canadian Biographies. Thompson Gale, August 2003. (Accessed online June 2008.)

Andromache Karakatsanis

Born 1955, Toronto, Ontario. She attended Victoria College at the University of Toronto, earning her B.A. in 1977. She continued her studies in Law at Osgoode Law School, York University, Toronto and was called to the Bar in Ontario in1982. She joined the Ontario Public Service in 1987 and served as the Chair of the Liquor License Board of Ontario from 1988 through 1995. She married fellow lawyer Tom Karvanis and the couple had two children. From 1995 to 1997 she was Secretary of the Ontario Native Affairs. In 1996 she received the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators Medal for outstanding Service and in 1997 she became Deputy Attorney General for the province. In 2002 she was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. In March 2010 she was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal and in October 2011 she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online accessed January 2013.:

Helen Alice Kinnear

Born May 6, 1894, Cayuga, Ontario. Died April 25, 1970, Port Colborne, Ontario. Helen graduated from the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Ontario bar, to become a lawyer, in 1920. She practiced law in Port Colborne, Ontario. After the death of her father in 1924 she opened her own practice until 1943, when she was appointed county-court judge for Haldimand County. In 1934 she became the First woman in the British Commonwealth to be created a King's Council. In 1935 she became the first woman lawyer in Canada to appear before the Supreme Court of Canada. In the 1940's after two previous failed attempt she was the Liberal Party nominee for her riding but she relinquished her role to a man and she never ran to be a candidate again. In 1943 she became a county-court Judge in Haldimand County, Ontario becoming the 1st woman in Canada appointed a judge by the federal government. In 1947 she was appointed judge of the Juvenile Court the 1st woman in the British Commonwealth appointed as a county court judge. When she attended the Commonwealth and Empire Law Conference in 1955 she was recognized as the only woman in the Commonwealth to have been made a county court judge. In 1954, she was appointed to two Royal Commissions: the Royal Commission for the Criminal Law Relating to Sexual Psychopaths and the Royal Commission Relating to the Defence of Insanity. In 1961 her il health forced her to retire and she returned home to Port Colborne. In 1965 she received a John Howard Society y Medal for her services. In 1993 the Canadian Post Office issued a commemorative stamp to honour the achievements of this woman Lawyer. In 1999 her home town of Pot Colborne declared her home an historic town site.  Source: Encyclopedia Canadiana, Grolier Society, 1957.

née Laberge. Born October 23, 1923*, Montreal, Quebec. Died August 9, 2009, Magog, Quebec. Réjane earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Université de Montréal. In 1952 she placed first when she sat for her bar and Became a member the of the Canadian Bar Association. By 1957 she was practicing law with the firm of Geoffrion & Prud’homme. In 1958 she married Emile Colas and the couple had three children.  In the mid 1960’s she was the founding chair of the Fédération des femmes du Québec where she served as the first president. and was an active member of the Foundation Thérése Casgrain.  By 1968 she was named as Queen’s Counsel and in 1969 she became the first woman named judge of a provincial Superior Court in Canada. In the following decades she served at treasurer and president of the general committee of judges of the Quebec Superior Court. She was also the chair of the family law committee for the Quebec section of the Canadian Bar Association and vice president of the Canadian Consumer Council. In 1994 she sat on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to arbitrate trade disputes. In 1998 she was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. The Réjane Laberge - Colas Foundation was established to award an annual scholarship in family law. * Her birth date is sometimes reported as October 8, 1923 but her tomb stone reads October 23. Source: Canadian Encyclopedia (accessed 2023); Obituary. Online (accessed 2023); Find a Grave Canada (accessed 2023)

Marie-Marthe Aldéa Landry

Born June 6, 1887, Alexandria, Ontario. Died June 29, 1975, Montreal, Quebec. Her husband deserted her and disappeared leaving her to raise their daughter as a single parent. In 1914-15 she was the 1st woman in Quebec to receive a degree in Law, from McGill University. At this time, by provincial law no woman could engage in professional businesses without the permission from her husband. Since her husband
was not around it was not possible for her to apply to be called to the Bar in Quebec. She would continue to push to become a lawyer but
it was not until April 29, 1941 that the Bar Act was changed to allow women to the Bar. On January 10, 1942 four women were the first to be
called to the Bar in Quebec. Annie herself, never was admitted to the Bar. She wrote article on family law for popular women’s journals but
never practiced the profession for which she had fought. Sources: McGill women raising the bar by Pascal Zamprelli, McGill Reporter Vol. 39. No. 12, March 1, 2007 : The Canadian Encyclopedia Online  (accessed June 2013).

née Buckley. Born December 22, 1889, Parkhill, Ontario. Died 1966, Toronto, Ontario. In 1915 Mary graduated from the University of Toronto (U of T). While studding law she married Harry Van Wyck Laughton (1884-1955), another law student, on June 7, 1913. The coupe had one son. In 1915  Mary was 7th woman called to the Bar in Ontario. She and her husband settled in Toronto and practiced law together. She was a founding member the  Women’s Law Association of Ontario. She was the first female lawyer to have a journal article published. The article, 'Women in Law' was published in MacLean's in 1920 and expounded on the practical challenges of women wishing to pursue a career in law. Mary was also a member of the executive of the Big Sisters Association.  Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online (accessed January 2013);Photograph, Archives of Law Society of Ontario online (accessed 2024) Information from R. Weiser, member of Find a Grave. October 2024.

née Down. Born January 27, 1923, Courtland, Ontario. Died October 5, 2010, Toronto, Ontario. In 1939, graduating at the top of her high school class, Laura  a full scholarship to Medical School at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario but instead she opted
to earn an honours Bachelor of Arts in history. In 1942 she started to train at the Toronto General Hospital for Nurses graduating in 1945 winning the Gold medal for her studies. While being a practicing nurse she attended law school. She graduated from the Osgoode Hall Law School in 1948 and was called to the bar that same year. She worked as a junior solicitor in the Ontario Department of Health. In 1949 she married Bruce Jarvis Legge (1923-2006). The couple had three children.  In 1955 the couple established the Legge and Legge Law Firm. In In 1966 she was appointed Queen’s Council. In 1975 she was the first woman bencher of the Law Society. In 1983-1984 she was elected the first woman Treasurer  of the Law Society and served in the position again in 1988. In 1987 she received the Robinette Medal from the Osgoode Hill Law School. She also served as president of the Women's Law Association, the Soroptimist Club of Toronto, and the Federation of Law Societies of Canada as well as being Chairperson of the Ontario Safety League. In 2003 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario.  The Laura Legge Award was established in 2007 by the Law Society of Upper Canada to honour other women who exemplify leadership in the profession. Source: Legge & Legge Barristers aand Solicitors, online (accessed 2024)

Frances Emily Lynch

Born 1900. Died Windsor, Ontario October 24, 1962. Emily was one of the first Roman Catholic women lawyers in Ontario. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1925. She worked in her father’s Law firm, Daniel Lynch in Windsor, Ontario. She also was successful in a municipal election and served as an alderman. Unfortunately there is not much more information about her. Even Windsor Public Library does not have a full information file on her. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make History. Law Society of Upper Canada Online;  Obituary,  Windsor Star October 25, 1962.

Born November 27, 1909, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died April 16, 2007, Ottawa, Ontario. Mary took her pre law studies at Dalhousie
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and acquired her law degree in May 1933 from the University of New Brunswick. She was called to the New
Brunswick in 1934. She began her law career with a law firm in Saint John until 1948. Mary Louise then worked for Lord Beaverbrook,
William Maxwell Aitken (1879-1964) to handle Canadian affairs. She served on the New Brunswick University Board of Governors for 30
years and was on the Beaverbrook Scholarship Committee where she served as Secretary and Registrar in 1954. From 1960-1975 she
became the first woman to sit on Canada's National Parole Board. In 1984 she became the first Governor Emerita for the University of New
Brunswick. She also served as President of the Saint John Women's Club and was a member of the Law Society of New Brunswick, the
Canadian Bar Association, Le Circle Universitaire and was on the board of the Saint John Free public Library. In Ottawa she was a founding
member of the Community Foundation of Ottawa. In 2008 a lecture theatre was named in her honour at the university. Source: University of New Brunswick Libraries, Online (accessed 2021)

Born 1891, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Died 1977.Emelyn was one of the first of two women who would graduated in 1919 from Dalhousie University Law School. She graduated with Caroline Isabel MacInnis/McInnis. Emelyn attended Dalhousie University with her sister Arrabelle Mackenzie (1895-1984) who was on the the first women dentists to graduated from Dalhousie University. In 1929 she was admitted to the New York Bar in 1929. (2022)

Born 1875, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Died April 14, 1963, Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1909  she relocated to Saskatchewan.
The next year she became the inspector of foster homes. In 1916 she became the superintendent of the Department of Neglected
Children. In 1917 she was appointed as a Juvenile Court Judge for Saskatchewan, one of the first women judges in the province.
She is the first Justice of the Peace in Canada. In June 1935 she was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire (O B E). * her  Source: Maclachlan, Ethel Eugenics Archive online (accessed 2024); Chronology: Women and the Legal Profession in Saskatchewan, Law Society of Saskatchewan, online (accessed 2024); Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2024);  (2022)  Not on find a grave 2024

Clara Brett Martin

Born January 25, 1874, Toronto, Ontario  Died October 30, 1923, Toronto, Ontario. After receiving an honours Bachelor of Arts in mathematics, at 0nly 16, from Trinity College in Toronto in 1888, The Law Society of Upper Canada refused to accept her as a student. Enlisting the help of notable and forceful people of the day, including, Dr Emily Stowe (1831-1903), and Lady Aberdeen (1857-1939), to force legislation that would allow women as barristers. The petition was declined but with the help of Ontario Premier Oliver Mowat
(1820-1903)  on April 13, 1892 legistation was passed in the Ontario legislature which allowed the admission of women as solicitors. In
1893 Clara began articulating with the law firm of Mulock, Miller, Crowther, and Montgomery in Toronto. After being treated poorly not
only by the males but also by the firm's secretaries Clara switched to complete her articling requirement for law school with Blake, Lash, and Cassells. In 1897 she became the first woman lawyer in the British Empire when she graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto.
After being called to the bar she entered into partnership with Messers Shilton & Walbridge. Even though she was licensed she did
not often enter court. Her presence in the court room caused too much of a ruckus. She was elected as a school trustee with the
Toronto Board of Education in 1901 as the only woman on the school board. She served on the school board for ten years. In 1920 she attempted to enter politics by running for Toronto City Council but was defeated,  It would not be until the middle of the century that
women would be able to comfortably represent their profession in the courts. In 1989 the Ontario Government named the building
housing the Ministry of the Attorney General in her honour but later revoked this decision after an anti-Semitic letter she had written in 1915 came to light. While names of many men of the same, who may have been anti Semitic in their beliefs remain on buildings Clara's name was removed.  While her name was removed from the building it remains in silhouette as a vague reminder of her accomplishments. To recognize or demonize a woman for beliefs of her time remains a controversial topic.  Source: Canadian Encyclopedia, Online (accessed 2022)

Born 1921, Montreal, Quebec. Died 1999. Ivy earned her Bachelor of Art degree from McGill University, MontrealShe went on becoming the first Black woman , and woman of colour, to graduate from the University of Toronto Law School in 1945. She was the first student to graduate with an honours degree in international law.  She went to England andd was called to the British Bar in 1947. She would practice law in Britain and in Trinidad, the homeland of her parents. She would go on to work with the United States Information Services, Paris, France, and taught in Continuing Studies at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. The University of Toronto proviedes a scholarship for marginalized students con-named for Ivy and her former fiancé, Peter Fuld. Source: Beyond a Single Story: Black Lives and Hidden Figures in the Canadian Acadeyy, February 18, 2020, Online (accessed 2025)  .

D. J. McCawley
 

Born February 2, 1954. This lawyer and judge has the title of the Right Honourable Madame Justice. A mother of 7 children she was a nominee for Woman of Distinction Award in 1990. By 1916 she had become the superintendent of the Department of Neglected Children. In 1917 she was appointed as a Juvenile Court Judge for Saskatchewan.

Ruth Switzer McGill 3762

Born December 31, 1909*, Ontario.  Died May 26, 1974, Regina, Saskatchewan. Ruth and her family relocated to Regina, Saskatchewan.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Saskatchewan and continued her studies at the University in Law graduating
in 1932 and was admitted to the Bar the following year. Ruth would take over the family business the Debenture Company of Canada
which had been started by her father. In 1965 she and law partner established McGill and Robb Law Firm. She was active with the
Saskatchewan Council of Women, the League of Women Voters and the Women's Canadian Women's Club. She would serve as national president from 1948-1950 of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women's Club. In 1962 she served as second
vice-president of the International Federation. In 1946 she became the third woman to be elected to the Regina City Council where she
served for four years. In 1948 she was the chairperson of the Board of Health and held a position on the Regina Hospital Board.
* tombstone stated 1908.  Source: The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022)

Beverly McLachlin

née Gietz. Born September 7, 1943, Pincher Creek, Alberta. She studied philosophy and law at the University of Alberta where she earned the Gold Medal as top student. In 1967 she married Roderick McLachlin (1941-1988). The couple had one son. She was called to the Bar in 1969 in Alberta and in 1971 in British Columbia. She also taught at the University of British Columbia from1974-1981 and became the first woman judge in the B.C. County Court. Beverly was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1981 and became Chief Justice of the province in 1988. Shortly thereafter  in March 1989 she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1992 she married Frank McArdle. She became the first woman and 17th Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court on January 7, 2000. She is the official Deputy Governor General. She is also Chairperson of the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada and a member of the Privy Council of Canada. She and her husband Roderick had one son. Widowed in 1988, and remarried Frank McCerdle in 1992. She has taken strong stand on free speech and established a reputation for independent thinking.

née McNulty. Born 1895, Ottawa, Ontario. Died April 29,1972, Mississauga, Ontario. Mary graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School where
she had been the first woman on the school debating team. Mary was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1918. She was the first Roman
Catholic woman lawyer and the first woman lawyer in Ottawa. After her marriage to Alphonse Fix in 1931, she worked as an overseas
buyer for the T. Eaton Company. In 1953 she became the first woman reeve of what was then Toronto Township (now Mississauga)
serving until 1961.In 1959 she became Peel County's first female Warden. She was a member of the Victorian Order of Nurses (V O N),the Mississauga Library Board, a founding member of the Toronto Township Historical Society and helped to create the Bradley Museum. A park in Mississauga is named in her honour. Source: Mississauga. Arts and Culture. Mary Fix. online (accessed 2023); Fifty years ago, Mary Fix helped found the Mississauga South Historical Society. by Richard Collins, Heritage News, Heritage Mississauga vol. 26/Issue 1 Winter 2013 online (accessed 2024); Not on Find a grave 2024.

Maureen Anne McTeer

Born February 27, 1952, Cumberland, Ontario. Her childhood dream was to play hockey for the National Hockey League (NHL) Maureen
obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Ottawa in 1973 and  married a young lawyer politician, Joe Clark and16th Prime
Minister of Canada. She causes a minor stir when she decided to retain her maiden name after her marriage being Ms McTeer.  She is the only wife of a Prime Minister to used her own name.  She would balance her continued education  to become a lawyer with the challenge of having a daughter. In 1982 she helped organize the Esso Women's Nationals championships tournament.  She is an author and journalist and a specialist in medical law and served on the Royal Commission on Reproductive and Genetic Technologies from 1989 through 1993.  She has her an interest in politics and has served on numerous committees and even ran (unsuccessfully ) for a seat in Parliament. She is the only spouse of a Prime Minister to have her own political career. She is also known for her involvement in charity work having served as the National spokesperson for the Osteoporosis Society of Canada. In 2003 she published In My Own Name: A Memoir.  In 2008 she received the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case.

Marion Ironquil Meadmore

Indigenous Lawyer

Born 1936, Peepeekisis First Nation Reserve, Saskatchewan. Like many of her generation she was forced to leave home and attend residential School. In 1954 she married Ronald Hector Meadmore (1933-2013). She attended the University of Manitoba and in 1977 she became the first indigenous woman lawyer in Canada. She is the founder of several aboriginal organizations including the Canadian Indian Lawyer Association (Now Indigenous Bar Association), National Indian Brotherhood, the Indian and Métis Friendship Center, the Kinew Housing, and the National Indigenous Council of Elders (NICE). In 1985 She was inducted into the Order of Canada. Since 2011 she has been actively involved on the National Council of Indigenous Elders for the Creation of Wealth Forum. In 2010 she was honoured at the Keeping the Fires Burning aboriginal awards celebrating female leaders for preserving First Nations culture and serving as role models for younger generations. In 2015 the University of Manitoba presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Source: Don Marks, “What is the Use in Spending so Much Time Studying Failure’ CBC. online May 14, 2015;  Matt Preprost, “Gala recognizes accomplishments”.  Winnipeg Free Press June 18, 2010 Page A13.

Born November 12, 1891, St. John's, Newfoundland. Died April 5, 1946, St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador. Janet graduated from
Bishop Spencer College and began to read law in the office of Donald Morrison, her Uncle. She first petitioned the Law Society for
examination in 1910 but was declined as women were not allowed to be part of the Law Society. In 1911 the Law Society Act was amended
giving women the right to become members. On April 12, 1913, Janet M. Miller was admitted into the Law Society as a member. Janet did
not finish her legal studies. Shortly after the outbreak of World War l (1914-1918) she moved to Scotland and married Eric S. Ayer on June
19, 1915. Sadly Eric Ayer was killed on July 1, 1916. Moving south to England Janet joined the Volunteer Aid Detachment (V A D) and also
trained as an ambulance driver. At the end of the war she returned to St. John's and became involved in the suffragette movement and was
 a found member of the Child Welfare League and the Art Society. On April 30, 1924 she married Andrew H. Murray. Janet's papers are
conserved in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies Archives. Source: Janet Miller Helped Pave the Way Heritage Newfoundland & Labrador online (accessed 2024)

Elizabeth Carmichael Monk

Born August 4, 1898, Montreal, Quebec. Died December 26, 1980, Montreal, Quebec. In 1923 she earned a degree in Law from McGill University. She was the first woman to win the faculty’s gold medal for academic excellence. Unfortunately at the time she graduated
women were not allowed to be called to the Bar in the Province of Quebec. She would fight, cajole, and wait almost 20 years before
she was called to the Bar. In 1934 she was admitted to the Bar in Nova Scotia but this was not home. On January 10, 1942, Elizabeth
was on of four women to be the 1st women called to the Bar in Quebec. The other women were Constance Garner-short (1910-1959), Suzanne Raymond Filion and Marcelle Hémond-Lacoste. Elizabeth practiced corporate law and became the first Quebec woman appointed as Queen’s Counsel. She worked with the Montreal Citizen Committee, the Quebec National Federation of University Women, and
Canadian Federation of University Women. In 1991 she was the recipient of the Méite du Barreau. Source: Les  pionnières dans le métiers non-traditionnels (copyright 2004 by Sophie Lecerte and Karine Boisverts) Online. (accessed June 2013).

Marie-Lucie Morin

Marie-Lucie graduated from the Université de Sherbrooke and was called to the bar in the province of Quebec. Marie-Lucie is a lawyer and
former diplomat. She began her career serving in the Foreign Service as Ambassador to Norway from 1997 through 2001. She is a member of
the Queen's Privy Council for Canada which is  a group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs. In 2003 she served as deputy minister of International trade. From 2008 for two years she was National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada and associate secretary to the Cabinet. From 2010 to 2013 she was the executive Director for Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean at the World Bank. She has been a member of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, an independent agency of the Government of Canada that oversees the operations of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (C S I S). In 2016 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

SEE - Social Activists

Clara Muskat

née Halperin Born December 17,  1912, Toronto, Ontario. Died May 15, 2016, Toronto, Ontario. Clara studied at the University of Toronto and was only 19 years old when she began to study the law at Osgood Hill Law School. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1935. She was one of the first Jewish women layers in Ontario. In her early career when worked with a Jewish lawyer, Onic Brown. Non Jewish firms were not willing to hire a Jewish woman lawyer. She married Simon Muskat. She was appointed as Queen’s council. She practiced a solo law practice in Toronto well into her 80’s. She was also an accomplished pianist.  Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history. Law Society of Upper Canada Online; Obituary, Globe and Mail, online (accessed 2024)

Marie E. 'Tracey' O'Donnell

Indigenous Lawyer

Born 1966, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. She studied law and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1995. Tracey is a member of the Red Rock Indian Band, located southeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. She has focused her career on providing legal services and support to First Nations,
Aboriginal organizations and indigenous peoples in several areas. She has volunteered on several boards of directors for Aboriginal based
organizations. In 2003 she was elected a a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the 1st aboriginal woman ever elected. She has two daughters and a son. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history. Law Society of Upper Canada Online

Born 1948, Hamilton, Ontario. She studied law and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1977. She practiced law in Toronto in the field of human rights, criminal and immigration law. She has written an award winning book, Bittersweet passage and the Japanese-Canadian experience (Toronto; Between the Lines, 1992). The book tells the story of her community’s and her own family’s experiences of injustice and discrimination during World War ll and of the campaign for redress, in which Maryka played a key role.  In February 1993 she became the 1st East Asian Canadian Judge when she was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada Online
 (accessed January 2013).:

Born Pond Inlet, Nunavut. In 2002 she was named by Maclean’s magazine as an outstanding young Canadian to watch. In June 2005 she
graduated from Akitsiraq Law School, a unique school set up to teach Inuit lawyers that provided a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Victoria. A busy mother of two would complete her required articling with Justice Canada. She was the former Chief Commissioner of the Nunavut Law Review Commission which helped her determination to become a lawyer. She began her legal career working with the Nunavut Crown Prosecutor’s Office. Source: Saskatoon Women’s Calendar Collective.  Herstory 2007: the Canadian Women’s Calendar (Regina: Couteau Books, 2006)  pg. 6..

Born Canoe Lake First Nation, Alberta. Delia attended the University of Winnipeg and followed her BA with studies in law. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1979 and she was called to the Bar in Saskatchewan in 1983 making her one of the first Indigenous lawyers to be called to the bar in both provinces. In 1994 she put her name on the ballot for the leadership of the Assembly of First Nations, the first woman to run for this position. She later pulled out of the race stating that she had proved her point that a woman could be on the ballot thus opening the door for future women candidates. The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation recognized her services with an award in 2009. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law  Society of Upper Canada online accessed January 2013.:

Helen Beatrice Palen

Born 1865, Ontario. Died December 1971. Helen began her working career as a court reporter in Belleville, Ontario. She studied Law and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1918. She practiced law in Toronto for ten years before moving to the public service. In 1923 she was appointed the Deputy Registrar of the Ontario Securities Commission and went on to be the first woman Registrar of the Supreme Court of Ontario. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada Online (accessed January 2013); Not on Find a Grave 2025)

Stella Avura Panarites

Born 1924, Cobalt, Ontario. Died 1986. Stella earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen’s University in 1949. She studied law and was
called to the Bar in 1953. She was the first woman lawyer of Greek heritage to be called to the Bar in Ontario. She practiced law in Orillia,
Midland, Gravenhurst, and North Bay, Ontario. She was a member of the Hellenic Canadian Lawyers Association. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history. Law Society  of Upper Canada Online (accessed 2013); Not on Find a Grave 2025)

Vera L. Parsons

Born July 22, 1889. Died February 18, 1973, Toronto, Ontario. As a teenager she suffered from polio which resulted in her having to walk with a cane for the rest of her life. Vera was not one to let a small handicap keep her in the shadows of life. She earned her Bachelor of Arts, in modern languages, from the University of Toronto (U of T) and went to Bryn Maur in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. where she earned her Master’s Degree. She was fluent in Italian and attended the University of Rome, Italy, but returned to Canada before she completed her doctorate. She worked with Italian immigrants in the Toronto area and soon found that they required more legal help. Vera decided to become a lawyer and after attending Osgoode Law School she was called to the Ontario Bar in 1924. Most women lawyers, and there were not many opted for real estate law but Vera had a keen interest in criminal law. She became the first woman to be a criminal Defence lawyer in Ontario and the first woman layer to appear before a judge and jury in Canada. She became a partner in the law firm of Horkins, Graham and Parsons. In 1944 she became the third woman in Ontario named to King’s Counsel. She was the first woman lawyer in Canada to defend an accused client charged with murder. She called for more probation officers to counter repeat offenders and she also pressed for more institutions like trade schools for rehabilitation of prisoners. In the 1930’s her private life allowed her to relax on an island cottage Temogami Shores in north eastern Ontario. She enjoyed playing the piano, collecting art and travelling as well. She worked well into her 80’s before she retired. The Vera L. Parson Prize for criminal procedure is offered for the Ontario Bar admissions course. Source: Crossing the Bar: an exhibition at the Law Society of Upper Canada Museum 1993. Online (accessed January 2013)  

Edith Louise Patterson

Born 1891, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died 1980. Edith attend University in Montreal and Toronto and studied law to be called to the Bar in
Ontario in 1915. She was one of the few women lawyers in the 1920’s she appeared in court in civil and divorce cases. In 1929 she was
appointed a judge in the juvenile court and became the 1st member of the the Law Society of British Columbia. She married Hamilton Read,
her law partner of more than 20 years. She retired in 1970 after more than five decades in her profession. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online (accessed  2013).:

ManJusha R. Pawagi

Born 1967, Amravati, Maharashtra, India. Her 1st career was as a writer having studied journalism at Stanford University in the U.S.A. She
worked as a reporter for the Associated Press and CBC Radio. She studied law and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1997. She has written a popular children’s book called The Girl Who Hated Books which has been translated into 15 different languages. The book was also the basis for an award winning animated short film by the National Film Board of Canada. In 2009 she was appointed a family court judge in the Ontario Court of Justice, Brampton. She is focused on legal services for children working with the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. She is also active in legal education and in the education working for children’s literacy in India. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada Online (accessed January 2013.)

Born 1953. Helen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work before she studied law. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1982. She practiced in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, from 1982 until 2001. In 2000 she was appointed Regional Senior Judge of the Northwest Region. She was appointed to the Supreme Court of Justice at Thunder Bay, Ontario in 2001 and may be the 1st Métis lawyer to become a judge in Ontario. She is active in continuing legal education and in a variety of legal organizations, including the Advocates’ Society, the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, The Ontario Association of Superior Court Judges and the Canadian Superior Court Judges Association. She is also the Honorary Colonel of the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history. Law Society of Upper Canada Online

Eva Maude Powley

Born December 28, 1875, Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay), Ontario. Died November 27, 1969, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Eva attended St. Hilda's College, the women's residential college at Trinity University in Toronto. In 1900 she was the first person in Canada to take booth university and Osgoode Hall law courses at the same time. June 24, 1902 Eva was the second woman in Ontario to study law and be called to the bar. She practiced law in Port Arthur. In 1908 she was curious about women lawyers in the rest of Canada and found only one, Mabel Penery French (1881-1955), who had been admitted to the bar in New Brunswick in 1907. Eva contacted the Law Society of British Columbia asking about the rules under which women were admitted to the Bar in that province. It turned out that there were no rules until 1912 when Mabel Penery French was called to the bar and a there was an amendment passed by the British Columbia Legislative Assembly. In 1913 she resigned from employment with Keefer & Keefer Law firm for some unknown reason and never practices law again. She sailed to Europe returning to Canada in 1917. By 1933 Eva was settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but while newspaper articles list her name in social columns she was not practicing law. Source; Diversifying the bar: Law Society of Upper Canada. Online (accessed January 2013).; Eva Mause Powley, Thunder Bay, online (accessed 2024;

Micheline Rawlins

Born 1951, Montreal, Quebec. After graduating with a B.A. from McGill University, Montreal, she studied law at the University of Windsor in
Ontario,  graduating in 1978. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1982. Back in Windsor she served  from 1985-1987 and again in 1995-2004 on the Board of Governors at the University of Windsor. She also volunteered with the Windsor Media Council, the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides and was president of the Windsor Urban Alliance, the Chatham Youth Soccer Association and with Distinguished Women in International Services. The Hournable Madam Justice Rawlins was the 1st Black woman appointed the bench in Ontario in 1992. In 1997 she received the African Canadian Achievement Award and in 2002 The National Congress of Black Women Award for Outstanding Contribution to Women, to Law and to Canada. In 2004 she was named Windsor Woman of the Year. She considers her two sons as her greatest achievement. Source: Diversifying  the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online (accessed January 2013.)

In September 12, 1936 she entered  entered studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Montreal.  She earned her degree, cume laude on May 26, 1939 as the fourth woman to graduate. At the time of her graduation no women were permitted to gain a licence to practice law from the Barreau du Québec. She was one of the first four women to be admitted to the Barreau du Québec on January 15, 1942, however she did not practice law. Source: The Great Pioneers, Faculty of Law, University of Montreal, Online (accessed 2025)

Louise M. Saunders 3998

 

Born April 9,1893, Greenspond, Newfoundland. Died June 14, 1969, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1910 Louise moved to St. John's and worked as a legal secretary for Richard Squires, the Prime minister of Newfoundland in the 1920's. Louise decided to study law herself. Louise studied the law at university and in 1933 was the first woman in the Dominion of Newfoundland to be called to the Bar. She would article under Richard Squires and practiced in partnership beginning in 1951 with him prior to establishing the firms of Saunders and Carew. She was a founding member of the Local Council of Women and a supporter of the Young Women's Christian Association (Y W C A). She was also an active member of the MacDonald Fellowship Club. In 1964 she received her Queens Counsel. In 1967 she received a Canada Centennial Medal. Source: Women and the Court House: Louise M. Saunders...online (accessed 2022); Find a grave Canada online (accessed 2022)

née Campeau. Born August 1894. Died May 1, 1980, Windsor, Ontario. Lovedy Graduated from the University of Toronto.  One of the early women lawyers in the province of Ontario, she was called to the Bar in 1919. By 1950 she was the fourth woman to be names Queen’s Council. She was the first woman to practice Law in Essex County, Ontario, and had an extensive practice in real estate and estate law in Windsor, Ontario. In 1960 she received her King's Council appointment. She was one of the two legal agents for the Agriculture Development Board of Essex County. She married Grover C. Scott (1895-1978) and continued her practice using her married name.  Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online (accessed January 2013); Find a grave online (accessed 2023)

Born 1906 Mozir. Lithuania. Died 1991. She attended law school and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1930 as one of the earliest Jewish
women lawyers. She worked at David B Goodman K. C. until 1944 when she went into private practice in Toronto in 1945. She was a member of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario  and served as Chair of the Public Welfare Committee in 1947 and from 1951-1953 served as president. She was an advocate for prison reform and stood for better treatment and rehabilitation of youth delinquents. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history. Law Society of Upper Canada Online (accessed 2013); Not on Find a Grave, (accessed 2025)

Born 1967, Seoul, Korea. Julia immigrated to Canada with her family in 1969. She married Michael Doi, a lawyer, and the couple have two
children. She studied law and was called to the Bar in Ontario  in 1994. She is among the 1st Korean Canadian to publish a legal textbook.
She is an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and practices corporate Law. She is co-founder of the Korean Canadian Lawyers
Association formed in 1995 and the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers formed in 2007. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online (accessed January 2013.)

née Silk. Born September 1, 1895. Died November 29,1943, Hamilton, Ontario. Aileen earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of
Toronto. She continued her education at Osgoode Law School and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1919. She practiced Law in Toronto
until her marriage on June 12, 1923 to James Nathan Bicknell (1893-1942).Source: Law Society of Ontario online (accessed (2023); Find a grave Canada online (accessed 2023)

Christine Bertram - Silverberg

Born 1949 Brampton, Ontario. Graduating from York University in Toronto, Ontario in 1971, she Married Dr. Ben Silverberg in and applied to
work with the police force in Mississauga, Ontario. Women were not allowed on uniform patrol. She was assigned to the youth bureau where
she became involved in youth and child abuse investigations that included undercover work as part of the criminal investigations. Take courses she  earned a MA in Criminology at the University of Toronto in 1983. She continued her studies at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, with courses in executive development and public relations. In 1990 she took a position in the Ontario provincial Ministry of the Solicitor General. She soon returned to police services as deputy chief of the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police in Ontario. In October 1995 she  became the first woman to be appointed to the position of Chief of Police of a major Canadian metropolitan centre. She has been honoured by the Piegan Nation  with the name “Bluebird Lady”. She has also earned a Platinum Podium Award from Toastmaster’s International for leadership. She has also been involved in community and professional organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, and the National Coordinating Committee on Organized Crime and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Leaving police services in 2000 she returned to university to accomplish her original career dream of becoming a lawyer. She graduated law from the University of Calgary in 2004. That same year she was names as one of Canada’s 100  Most Powerful Women. She articled at a national law firm and made partner in January 2008. Source: Silverberg realizes long-held dream by Valerie Berenyi, Calgary Herald February 16, 2009 online. (accessed July 2011)

Born Loon Lake, Nova Scotia. Corinne is a descendant of Black Loyalists and Black Refugees who came to Nova Scotia from the U.S.A. She
earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a student she volunteered as a probations officer with the provincial Department of Justice and worked as a summer job with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. She attended Schulich School of Law , Dalhousie University, Halifax. She was the only Black woman in her law class and graduated in 1979. She worked in family law in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia after being called to the bar with tow other women making them the only all female law firm in Nova Scotia. March 27, 1987 she was appointed to the family court of Halifax making her the firs Black woman appointed to the Bench and the first Black judge in Nova Scotia and the first Black woman judge in Canada.  In 1993 Corinne served on the Gender Equity Task Force of the Canadian Bar Association. She also taught with the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute.  In 2001 she returned to the classroom to her Masters degree in Law penning her thesis on the relocation and compensation oft the residents of Africville, the Black community in Nova Scotia.  In 2015 she was inducted into the Bertha Wilson Honour Society named for the first woman on the Ontario Court of Appeal and the firs woman Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She has also been recognized by the Elizabeth Fry Society, the Canadian Bar Association, the Congress of Black Women,  and has received the Lillian Fish Award from the National Association of the Women and the Law. Corrine retired as judge December 31, 2021. (2021)

Lida Belle/Bell Pearson Sturdy

née Pearson. Born June 7, 1895, Newmarket, Ontario. Died February 18, 1987, Preston, Ontario. Lida’s mother dies shortly after her birth and she was raised by her aunts until she was 11. She graduated from Victoria College, University of Toronto in 1918. She had enjoyed varsity sports, especially basketball and field hockey. She then studied law and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1921. On November 3, 1921 she was the first woman lawyer in Preston Ontario with her own practice. In 1927 she married Gerald Sturdy, a Preston draughtsman and sold her established law practice to Ruby Wigle. In 1933 she repurchased her law practice replacing Ruby as Town Solicitor. In 1935 she was the 1at woman to run for the position of School Trustee but was only successful with her second try for the office, serving from 1936-1945. She was Vice-Chair of the Board 1937-1936. She maintained her membership in the Galt Federation of University Women from 1954-1965.  In 1962 she was appointed Queen’s Council and continued her law practice until 1967. Source: City of Cambridge, Hall of Fame, Online (accessed March 2013).

Katherine Edna Swinton

Born August 14, 1950, East York, Ontario. She graduated from the University of Alberta with an honours B.A. in 1971. She then had the
opportunity of being a Parliamentary Intern at the House of Commons in Ottawa in 1971-1972. She served as law clerk to the Hon. R. G. B.
Dickson at the Supreme Court of Canada She earned her law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, Your University, Toronto in 1975 and went on to earn her Masters in law (LL.M) at Yale University in the U.S.A. in 1977. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1979. On August 23, 1983 she married Kenneth Swan and the couple have 2 children. She became a full professor with Faculty of Law, University of Toronto in 1988. She taught and wrote extensively in the areas of Canadian constitutional law, federalism and public policy, and employment discrimination law as a professor. She has served as an adviser to federal and provincial governments on issues of constitutional law and federalism. She became the Honourable Madame Justice when she was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division) in 1997. Source: The Canadian Who’s who, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997)

Born 1897? Died ???? After earning her Bachelor of Arts Verona graduated from law school and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1920. She
married Joshua Whatmough and joined the staff at the York County Law Library where she worked from 1920 through 1930.  She was a known legal scholar and the co-author of Annotations to the Revised Statues of Ontario published in 1927. Source: Law Society of Ontario online (accessed 2023)

née Goldenberg. Born November 11, 1922, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Died October 23, 2011, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She was a product of the depression youth years and was involved in the Canadian arm of the International youth Congress Movement. Her parent’s strong values of justice and helping the vulnerable where the values that drew her to her husband George Taylor. The couple married in 1941. Her parents were not pleased but when the couple left the Communist Party but the family was reconciled as the couple supported the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (C C F) political party (now N D P). Tillie worked to put George through law school, while caring for their two daughters. Tillie earned her own law degree in 1956, the only woman in her graduating class. In 1960 she was named a provincial magistrate, the first woman and perhaps first Jew to hold such a position. She soon learned that poverty was behind many misdemeanors and worked with the John Howard Society, the Medical Care Insurance Commission of Saskatchewan and the Provincial Commission of Inquiry into Legal Aid to help improve life in her home province. In 1972 she was names the first chairperson of the new Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission. In 1975 she was named one of 50 outstanding Saskatoon women . In 1976 she was elected a director of the Canadian Research institute for the Advancement of Women. And in 1977 through 1987 she was a member of the board of governors of the Canadian Council on Social Development. In 1996 she was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. Although she suffered a stroke she learned to talk, read and walk again through shear determination. Source: Ewing-Weisz, Chris “Trailblazing Saskatchewan Judge fought against poverty and social injustice.” The Globe and Mail  November 3, 2011 page R5. Submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa.

Thelma Bernice Thomson

née Kerr. Born September 28, 1922, Toronto, Ontario. Died January 2, 2012, Brantford, Ontario. Thelma attended the University of
Toronto and entered Osgoode Hall Law School in 1946. She was called to the Bar in 1949. She married David Thomson also a lawyer and the couple had two children. They settled in Lindsay, Ontario, where she and her husband opened a law firm. She was the first female lawyer in the Karwartha District. She was a strong advocate for women’s rights. In 1998 she relocated to Brampton the be closer to her children. She was an active member of the Brantford University Women's Club and the Opera Guild. In 2011 she wrote her memoirs: A 20th Century Portia. Source: Obituary, Brantford Expositor, January 4, 2012, Online (accessed 2018)

Born February 15, 1963, Norway House, Manitoba. Mary Ellen grew up poor knowing domestic violence and sexual abuse but this only made her more determined to know why the Justice System of Canada treated the Indigenous peoples so poorly. She earned her Bachelor of Arts at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, her Bachelor of Law at Osgood Hall Law School, Toronto, a Masters at Cambridge University, England, with a Doctorate (PhD) in Law from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massauchetts, U.S.A.  In March 5,1998 she became the first indigenous woman to be named as a judge in Saskatchewan. She has maintained law practices in both Saskatchewan and in Nova Scotia and is a professor of Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has successfully blended her schooling and professional life with being a mother of 4 children. Proud of her aboriginal heritage she has written a book on the history of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation for the Band Centennial in 2006. In November 2006 she was appointed as the British Columbia for Children and Youth to complete the May 18, 2006 Act in that province. The appointment was for five years. She is also the first tenured law professor of Aboriginal Heritage in Canada. In February 2011 she was listed as one of 10 new mentors by the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation.  Sources: Herstory: A Canadian Woman’s Calendar 2000 ( Silver Anniversary Edition) Coteau Books, 1999 Page 4. ; Turpel-Lafond appointed as Trudeau Foundation Mentor; News release February 8, 2011 online (accessed July 2011).

Born 1958. After undergraduate studies she attended Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, and was called to the Bar in Ontario 1986. Susan was the first openly Lesbian lawyer in Ontario. She appeared as council for the Metropolitan Community Church v. Egan which was the first Supreme Court decision on equality rights for gay men and lesbians. She is the founder of Pro Bono Law Ontario, an organization that encourages lawyers to provide pro bono legal services (charge no fees) to low income persons. In 1998 she received the Canadian Bar Association Young Lawyers Pro Bono Award. She has served the Lesbian and Gay community and in 2000 they recognized this services by inducting her into the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives’ National Portrait Collection. In 2011 she won the Canadian Bar Association HERO Award in recognition of her contribution to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Committee. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online (accessed January 2013)

Born May 11, 1920, Blackstock, Ontario. Died April 19, 2012, Amherstview, Ontario. At 16 Mabel became the 1st person from her hometown to attend University. She graduated from Victoria College, University of Toronto and continued her education in legal studies graduating cum laude from Osgoode Hall, Toronto in 1947 and was called to the Barr. She became the 1st woman partner at the Toronto law firm of Beaudoin, Pepper, and Van Camp. In 1971 she was appointed as the first woman to the Ontario Supreme Court. She served as president of the Women's Law Association of Ontario and on the board of directors of the Y W C A. She was a member of the Council of the Canadian Bar Association and of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. Mabel retired in 1995. In 2003 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario. (2020) Source: Find a Grave Online (accessed 2024)

Born October 30, 1911, Wakaw, Saskatchewan. Died April 15, 1977, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Mary graduated from the University of
Manitoba Law School and was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1936. She was the first woman lawyer of Ukrainian descent in Canada. She married Dmytro George 'Daniel' Wawrykow and the couple had three children. In 1959 she ran in the provincial elections as a
Progressive Conservative candidate. In 1960 her husband died leaving her a single parent. In 1962 she was once again running in the Provincial elections. In 1965 she became a Queen's Counsel and  in 1968 she was appointed a Judge in the Winnipeg Juvenile and
Family Court.  By 1975 she was responsible for the Provincial Judges' Court of Winnipeg North. During her career she served on several boards in her community including the Advisory Board of the Holy Family Home, The Ukrainian Women's Council, The Business and Professional Women's Club of Winnipeg, Board of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, Ukrainian Catholic Women's League, Children's Aid Society of Winnipeg, and the United Way Campaign. In 1955 the Winnipeg Tribune newspaper named her Woman of the Year. She also received a Community Service Award from of the City of Winnipeg the Canadian Centennial Medal, the Shevchenko
Medal from the Ukrainian Canadian Committee and a Human Relations Award from the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. Her
papers are maintained at the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections. Source: Memorable Manitobans online (accessed 2024)

Juanita Westmorland -Traoré

Black Lawyer & Judge

Born March 10, 1942, Verdun (now part of Montréal), Québec. She attended the Université to obtain her law degree in 1966. She earned her
Doctorate (PhD) at the University of Paris, France. In 1967 she was called to the Bar in Ontario and in 1969 called to the Bar in Québec. In the early 1970’s she became the 1st Black woman to teach at the Université de Montréal and from 1976-1991 she taught at the Université du Québec à Montréal. From 1983-1985 she was Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. In 1991 she was appointed an officer of the National Order of Quebec. In 1999 she became the first Black judge appointed in Québec. She became the first Black Dean of a Canadian Law school when she served at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, Ontario. In 2005 she was presented with the Touchtone Award by the Canadian Bar Association. In 2008 she was awarded the Quebec Human Rights Commission’s Rights and Liberties Prize for her career long fight against discrimination and in 2009 she earned the Christine Tourigny Merit Award. In 2013 a bursary was implemented with her name by the Faculty of Political Science and Law, Université du Québec, Montréal. Sources : “Judge Westmorland-Traoré to be honoured.” The Gazette, Montreal, November 2008. : Diversifying the Bar: Lawyers make history Online (Accessed December 2013) : “Legal Icon –Westmoreland-Traoré Retires”  by Patricia DeGuire. Voices, Ontario Bar Association Vol.  18 no. 2 May 2012

Ruth Mildred "Ruby" Wigle-Fish

Born 1893, Manitoba.  After studies at law school Ruby was called to the Ontario Bar in 1926. She purchased a law practice from Linda Bell Pearson Sturdy who had recently married and wished to join her husband who was working in Chicago. Ruby was a member of the
Women’s Law Association of Ontario. She would become one of the first women town solicitors in Ontario when she worked in
Preston, Ontario, 1931 to 1933. She later moved to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, to work with her husband. Source: Diversifying the bar: Lawyers Make history.
Law Society of Upper Canada Online (accessed January 2013. )

née Wernham. Born September 18, 1923, Kirkcaldy, Scotland. Died April 28, 2007, Ottawa, Ontario. Bertha graduated with a Master of Arts from the University of Aberdeen in 1944. In 1945 she married John Wilson, a Presbyterian minister, who served as minister to the United Church in Renfrew, Ontario. When John became a naval chaplain during the Korean War (1950-1953) she was working as a dental receptionist in Ottawa.  She settled in Nova Scotia with John, who had been posted to Halifax. In 1954 she entered Dalhousie Law School, Halifax, and was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1957. Relocating to Toronto, she was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1959 and specialized in legal research and opinion writing for other lawyers. She was the First woman appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1975 where she became known for her “imaginative and humane decisions”. In 1982 she was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1988 she was appointed a commissioner on the Reasmus-Dussault Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. In 1991 she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 1992 she was named to the Order of Canada. Sources: Bertha Wilson biography, Supreme Court of Canada (accessed 2008); Obituary, the Globe and Mail April 30, 2007. (accessed 2008 )

Born Hamilton, Ontario. Died December 21, 2010, Hamilton, Ontario. In 1943 she and her husband opened a family restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario. She soon became involved with her home community as principal of the National Chinese School and as a Chinese interpreter in the city courts. She served as a member of the Canadian consultative council on Multiculturalism. In 1977 Mary Wong was the first Canadian of Chinese descent to be appointed as a Citizenship Court Judge. She retired from the "bench" as a citizenship judge in 1985. She is an appointee to the Hamilton [Ontario] Gallery of Distinction.

Geraldine Bertram Wright                     

Died 1967, Toronto, Ontario. Geraldine studied law after university and in 1907 was the third woman called to the Bar in Ontario. She worked in her father’s former law firm, Leitch and Green in St Thomas for two years. In 1909 she married Edward 'Ward' Warner Wright (1885-1939), also a lawyer, and the couple moved to Toronto. In 1919 she was a founding member of the Women's Association of Ontario where she served as the third president. Ward Wright died in 1939. Geraldine was called back to St Thomas and commissioned by the War Auxiliary Services Committee to sponsor the St Thomas Active Service Club which accommodated over 6,000 men of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force who were training at nearby Air Schools. After the war she returned to live in Toronto. Source: Diversifying the bar; Law Society of Upper Canada online accessed January 2013.; Major Edward Warner Wright, Canadian Great War Project online (accessed 2024);: