Bertha Wilson and International Women’s Day
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/03/2025 (388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
International Women’s Day, which originated in the early 1900s, is a day of unity, advocacy, and celebration. In 1910, Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, proposed a day for women to advocate for their demands and to fight for women’s suffrage. Since then, people from around the world have been coming together on March 8 to campaign for and fight for women.
Bertha Wilson, the first female Canadian Supreme Court Justice, is no stranger to fighting for women. As of this month 42 years ago, Madam Justice Wilson became the first woman ever to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, where she served eight years, cementing herself as one of the greatest justices Canada has ever seen.
Wilson, born in Scotland in 1923, moved to Canada in 1949 and began studying law in Nova Scotia in 1955. She then moved to Ontario, where she worked in law for over 10 years before being appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1975. Then, on March 4, 1982, Wilson, nominated by Pierre Trudeau, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Supreme Court Judge Bertha Wilson is shown in this 1989 photo. She retired from the court in 1991 and died in 2007. École secondaire Neelin High School columnist Arden Hebert acknowledges Wilson’s achievements ahead of International Women’s Day, which will be marked on Saturday. (The Canadian Press, file)
Wilson is known as a pioneer for women in law, as she was not only the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, but she was also the first woman associate at one of the top law firms in Canada, Osler, Hoskin, & Harcourt, which she joined in 1958. She also became the firm’s first woman partner in 1968.
Throughout her time as a Supreme Court justice, Wilson made an undeniable difference in the lives of many people, including, of course, countless women. Wilson’s experience as a woman had an unquestionable impact on her work in the Court and, paired with her incredible intelligence, it’s safe to say her impact on Canada will never be forgotten. Two of her most noteworthy cases include R v. Morgentaler, which overturned restriction on abortion in Canada, and R v. Lavalee, which accepted battered woman syndrome as a legitimate extension of self-defence. These are both cases that made an incomparable impact on the lives of innumerable Canadian women.
Madam Justice Bertha Wilson retired from the Supreme Court in 1991, but her incredible work continues to encapsulate the ethos of International Women’s Day, which started as a day for fighting and which, with the help of Wilson and countless others, has become a day not only for striving, but also for celebration.
» Arden Hebert is a Grade 12 student at École secondaire Neelin High School.