Constance Backhouse - Two Firsts: Bertha Wilson and Claire LHeureux-Dubé at the Supreme Court of Canada

TWO

FIRSTS

Bertha Wilson and Claire LHeureux-Dub

at the Supreme Court of Canada

Constance Backhouse

Second Story Press

a feminist history society book

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Backhouse, Constance, 1952, author

Two firsts : Bertha Wilson and Claire LHeureux-Dub

at the Supreme Court of Canada / Constance Backhouse.

(A feminist history society book)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-77260-093-3 (softcover)

978-1-77260-094-0 (epub)

1. Wilson, Bertha, 1923-2007. 2. LHeureux-Dub, Claire. 3. Canada.

Supreme Court. 4. Judges--Canada--Biography. 5. Women judges--Canada--

Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Feminist History Society book

KE8246.B33 2019 347.7103534 C2018-905195-7

KF345.Z9.A1B33 2019

Copyright 2019 by Constance Backhouse

www.FeministHistories.ca

Editor: Andrea Knight

Managing Editor: Kathryn Cole

Cover: Isabelle Cardinal

Book design: Melissa Kaita

Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate

credit for photographic material. The publisher deeply regrets any omission

and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Printed and bound in Canada

Second Story Press gratefully acknowledges the support of the

Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for our

publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the

Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.

Published by

Second Story Press

20 Maud Street, Suite 401

Toronto, ON M5V 2M5

www.secondstorypress.ca

To the founders of the Feminist History Society, Beth Atcheson,

Lorraine Greaves, Diana Majury, and Beth Symes.

CONTENTS

17 Childhood and early schooling:
Scotland and Quebec

31 Bertha Wilson, the ministers wife

41 The decision to study law

51Claire LHeureux and
Laval University Law School

61 Bertha Wilson and
Dalhousie Law School

73 LHeureux-Dubs practice
in Quebec City and marriage

85 Bertha Wilsons practice in Toronto

95 Practising as a woman

105 First judicial appointments:
No woman can do my job!

115 Claire LHeureux-Dub and
the Quebec Superior Court

123 Claire LHeureux-Dub:
Family tragedy and the Quebec Court of Appeal

135 Bertha Wilson and the
Ontario Court of Appeal

147 Appointments to the
Supreme Court of Canada, 1982 and 1987

157 Contrasting family lives

167 Chilly reception at the
Supreme Court of Canada

179 Bertha Wilsons Supreme
Court decisions

191 Claire LHeureux-Dubs Supreme
Court decisions

205 The conundrum of feminism
and the complexities of race

219 Retirement and after

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the many people who assisted me in the conceptualization of Two Firsts : Beth Atcheson, Nancy Backhouse, Olga Backhouse, Natasha Bakht, Marina Ball, Kim Brooks, Tomiko Brown-Nagin , Suzanne Bouclin, Mordecai Bubis, Rosemary Cairns Way, Angela Cameron, Janice Carment, Nathalie Chalifour, Sharon Cook, Andrea Davidson, Jane De Hart, Nathalie Des Rosiers, Adam Dodek, Chloe Georas, Philip Girard, Charlotte Gray, Lorraine Greaves, Shirley Greenberg, Vanessa Gruben, Sally Kenney, Ian Kerr, Pnina Lahev, Paul Leatherdale, Maureen Lennon, Vanessa MacDonnell, Diana Majury, Carissima Mathen, Michel Morin, Peter Oliver, Maureen ONeil, Sanja Petrovic, Jim Phillips, Douglas W. Phillips, Wendy Rickey, Teresa Scassa, Elizabeth Sheehy, Catherine Strosberg, Harvey Strosberg, Beth Symes, Martin Teplitsky, David Wexler, Leandra Zarnow, and Ellen Zweibel.

Talented research assistants Mark Bourrie, Vanessa Carment, Desire Hayward, and Mayoori Malankov also provided invaluable assistance. Veronique Larose provided stellar technical and administrative support.

I greatly appreciate the expertise and assistance of the many women who came together to help produce this book at Second Story Press: Allyson Aritcheta, Natasha Bozorgi, Kathryn Cole, Melissa Kaita, Andrea Knight, Emma Rodgers, Ellie Sipila, and Margie Wolfe.

Constance Backhouse

Ottawa, Spring 2018

Chronology

1923Bertha Wernham is born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland

on September 18 to Archibald and Christina Wernham.

1926Bertha Wernham and her family move to

Aberdeen, Scotland.

1927Claire LHeureux is born in Quebec City, Canada

on September 7 to Paul and Marguerite LHeureux.

1935Claire LHeureux and her family move to

Rimouski, Quebec.

1939Bertha Wernham meets John Wilson for the first time.

1941Bertha Wernham graduates from high school,

Aberdeen Central Secondary School.

1943Claire LHeureux graduates from le Monastre

des Ursulines de Rimouski, completing the matriculation course at age fifteen.

1944Bertha Wernham graduates from the University

of Aberdeen with a master of arts degree.

1945Bertha Wernham obtains a teaching parchment

from the Aberdeen Training College for Teachers

Bertha Wernham, age twenty-two , marries John Wilson, age twenty-five , on December 14, 1945.

1946Claire LHeureux graduates from Collge de Bellevue,

obtaining a baccalaurat-s -arts magna cum laude at age eighteen.

1948Claire LHeureux, age twenty-one , enters

Laval Faculty of Law.

1949Bertha and John Wilson immigrate to Canada.

1951Claire LHeureux graduates with an LL.L. from

lUniversit Laval at age twenty-three .

1952Claire LHeureux is called to the Quebec bar and

becomes a lawyer with Sam Bards law firm in Quebec City.

1954Bertha Wilson, age thirty-one , enters

Dalhousie Law School.

1957Bertha Wilson graduates with LL.B. from

Dalhousie Law School at age thirty-three .

Claire LHeureux, age thirty-one , marries Arthur Dub, age thirty-eight , on November 30, 1957.

1958Bertha Wilson is called to the Nova Scotia Bar,

after completing articles with Frederick W.
Bissett QC.

The Wilsons move to Toronto, and Bertha Wilson joins Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt as an articling student,
age thirty-five .

1959Bertha Wilson is called to the Ontario Bar, and

becomes the first woman lawyer at the Osler firm.

1960Claire L Heureux-Dub s first child, Louise,

is born in Quebec City.

1964Claire L Heureux-Dub s second child, Pierre,

is born in Quebec City.

1973Claire L Heureux-Dub , age forty-five , is appointed

to the Quebec Superior Court, February 9.

Bora Laskin becomes Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, December 27.

1976Bertha Wilson, age fifty-two , is appointed to the

Ontario Court of Appeal, January 2.

1978Arthur Dub commits suicide, July 11.

1979Claire L Heureux-Dub , age forty-nine , is appointed

to the Quebec Court of Appeal, October 16.

1980Antonio Lamer is appointed to the Supreme Court