Supreme Court Justice Sheilah Martin to give keynote at her alma mater

A justice of the Supreme Court of Canada is set to discuss some timely, and important, topics at the University of Alberta.

Justice Sheilah Martin, ‘83 LLM, of the Supreme Court will give a keynote speech at the TELUS Centre from 7 - 9 p.m., on Feb. 9, as part of International Week.

“The Faculty of Law is very excited to be a partner in welcoming Justice Martin to the University of Alberta campus once again,” says Dean Barbara Billingsley of the U of A’s Faculty of Law.

“As an experienced Supreme Court of Canada jurist, a former legal educator, and an esteemed alumna of our graduate program, Justice Martin is well known as an engaging and thoughtful speaker and we are extremely pleased that she has agreed to provide this keynote address to round out International Week. We very much look forward to hearing her insights on the important and timely topic of human rights in a civil society.”

The event is jointly hosted by the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Arts, the Centre for Constitutional Studies, the Collaborative College Community Initiative (C3I), and the non-profit community organization the Canadians for a Civil Society.

The original reception with a Supreme Court Justice as a keynote speaker was initiated by the Canadians for a Civil Society when it co-sponsored the Ignite Change Global Convention together with the John Humphrey Center for Peace and Human Rights.

“This has been a collaborative venture from the outset, with representatives of various organizations and faculties working together on all dimensions of the event,” says Richard Mailey, director of the Centre for Constitutional Studies. “It’s been a real pleasure to work with such a big, collaborative team, and each person who’s been involved has brought something distinct and important to the table — a unique perspective, special knowledge or technical skills.”

A timely talk

The Feb. 9 keynote is titled ‘Bringing the Law to Life: Keynote Speech and Reception with Justice Sheilah Martin.’ In the speech, Justice Martin will talk about the importance of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and reflect on the UDHR and its impact.

Yasmeen Abu-Laban, a professor in the U of A’s Department of Political Science and a C3I leader, says that the opportunity to hear this keynote is very exciting. She says many students and faculty members have not had the chance to hear from a member of the Supreme Court of Canada directly.

 “It is an opportunity to learn about the judicial system from someone with hands-on experience, as well as explore the ways in which Canada has contributed to and been influenced by human rights.”

Vasant Chotai, president of Canadians for a Civil Society, notes that the conference is particularly timely. Over the past decade, the world has seen a great deal of turmoil and many attempts to erode fundamental human rights. Between this and the spread of misinformation and disinformation, many people have lost faith in the systems on which the world used to rely.

"I hope that the event will encourage attendees to commit to maintaining a society that is compassionate and civil, that provides factual information so people don’t rely on misinformation and disinformation, and that protects human rights of all regardless of their background or their economic status,” Chotai says. “I hope that the event will inspire the attendees to play their role in protecting and improving our democracy that we have sacrificed so much to build over the years."

The objective of the event is to bring together legal professionals, civil society leaders, academics, students, decision makers and frontline workers to focus on policy and systemic change that protect human rights.

‘A greater appreciation’

Justice Martin was born and raised in Montreal. Her education history includes bachelors’ degrees in civil and common law at McGill University and Master of Laws from the U of A in 1983.

She was a faculty member at various schools around Canada, and practiced law in Calgary for numerous years. Notably, she did pro bono work from the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund and the Alberta Association of Sexual Assault Centres in cases before the Supreme Court of Canada. She also worked on the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

Martin was appointed to the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in 2005, the Courts of Appeal of Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in 2016, and ultimately the Supreme Court of Canada in 2017.

Mailey hopes that Justice Martin’s talk will foster an appreciation for the work that she and her colleagues do. He says that Canadians tend to look at people in positions of power like this from somewhat extreme perspectives: they’re often either heroes or a target for complaint.

“The reality, though, is that these are ordinary people who wrestle, day in and day out, with some pretty intractable problems — problems like the limits of their own institutional roles, or the best way to interpret messy lines of constitutional jurisprudence. My hope with lectures like this one is always that attendees leave with a greater appreciation of the work that our institutional actors do, and with a heightened sense of empathy for the difficult position that they’re in.”

While the event is now sold out, those interested can register for the waitlist here.

For more C3i events during I-Week, see their website.