Justin Trudeau has nominated an Indigenous woman to Canada’s supreme court, in a landmark appointment after decades of criticism over a lack of Indigenous representation on the country’s highest court.
The prime minister announced on Friday that Michelle O’Bonsawin had been selected to fill an upcoming vacancy on the court.
O’Bonsawin, an Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation, has been a judge at Ontario’s superior court of justice in Ottawa since 2017. She has also taught law at the University of Ottawa, and earlier worked in legal services for the RCMP and Canada Post.
The Franco-Ontarian was tapped following the upcoming retirement of Justice Michael Moldaver.
“I am confident that Justice O’Bonsawin will bring invaluable knowledge and contributions to our country’s highest court,” Trudeau said in a statement, adding that she had been selected through an “open, non-partisan” process.
Unlike the scorched-earth hearings in the United States, where a justice’s views are heavily scrutinized and senators often use the process to springboard their own political ambitions, Canada’s process is far less contentious.
Parliament’s justice committee will meet next week to hear from the justice minister and the head of the independent advisory board for supreme court of Canada judicial appointments. O’Bonsawin will then field questions from the committee and senate.
In her application questionnaire, O’Bonsawin described how her Indigenous identity in Canada had shaped both her life and legal career, including being discriminated against and made fun of as a young Indigenous girl growing up off-reserve.
“I believe my experience as a francophone First Nations woman, a parent, a lawyer, a scholar and a judge provide me with the lived understanding and insight into Canada’s diversity because I, and my life experience, are part of that diversity,” she said.
She also highlighted the importance of dismantling the stigmas around mental health issues and the need for an “inclusive” and “compassionate legal system” for First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
On Friday, the justice minister, David Lametti, called the nomination a “historic moment” for the top court.
For decades, Indigenous groups have called for a justice who represents a different way of understanding the law.
“Canada’s top court has always been missing an individual to interpret Canadian laws through an Indigenous lens – but not any more,” Elmer St Pierre, the national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, said in a statement.
“Indigenous people have long faced discrimination, racism and prejudice in Canada’s justice system, leading to the overrepresentation of our people in courts and prisons. Governments must continue to ensure Indigenous voices help create laws, interpret and enforce them.”
The nomination of O’Bonsawin is the second landmark appointment to the court. In 2021, Trudeau selected Mahmud Jamal for the bench, making him the first person of colour to serve as a justice of the supreme court.
