On June 12, 2017, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin announced that she would be retiring from the Supreme Court of Canada on December 15, 2017. Justice McLachlin joined the SCC in 1989 after serving on the BC Court of Appeal and as Chief Justice of the BC Supreme Court. In 2000 she became the first woman to be named Chief Justice of the SCC, and she is now the longest serving Chief Justice. Prime Minister Trudeau remarked, “Chief Justice McLachlin’s judicial accomplishments are unparalleled in Canadian history. She has been a judicial leader and trailblazer for almost four decades. […] After 28 years at the Supreme Court of Canada, her contributions reach into every part of our law.”
Chief Justice McLachlin will be remembered for her effective leadership, her clear writing, and her court’s landmark decisions. As Chief Justice, McLachlin has often led her court to reach consensus, even in controversial cases such as Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, 2013 SCC 72. She has used the term “cultural genocide” to describe Canada’s treatment of First Nations, and she penned the first SCC case that recognized Aboriginal title, Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44. In her retirement announcement she expressed, “It has been a great privilege to serve as a justice of the Court, and later its Chief Justice, for so many years. I have had the good fortune of working with several generations of Canada’s finest judges and best lawyers. I have enjoyed the work and the people I have worked with enormously.”
We shall see who will be named the next Chief Justice and who will be elevated to the SCC. McLachlin’s place on the bench will be filled under the new Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments Process introduced by the Trudeau government in August 2016. This is an open and transparent application process led by an Independent Advisory Board. The Board has a mandate to recommend “qualified, functionally bilingual candidates who reflect a diversity of backgrounds and experiences,” but it is not obligated to follow the convention of regional representation on the SCC. In the fall of 2016, Justice Malcolm Rowe became the first justice to be appointed to the SCC under the new process. Justice Rowe, the first SCC justice from Newfoundland and Labrador, replaced Justice Thomas Cromwell, the representative of Atlantic Canada, and so his appointment ultimately complied with convention.
You can find several of Chief Justice McLachlin’s publications in our library collection:
- The Canadian law of architecture and engineering – Beverley M. McLachlin and Wilfred J. Wallace. Call Number: KF2925 M34.
- British Columbia Court Forms (2nd Edition) – Beverley M. McLachlin and James P. Taylor, Edited by Fred Irvine. Call Number: KEB140 M25 2005.
- British Columbia Practice (3rd Edition) – Beverley M. McLachlin and James P. Taylor, Edited by Fred Irvine. Call Number: KEB535.4 A6M25 2006.
- A Canadian judgment: the lectures of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin in New Zealand, April 2003 – Edited by Andrew Stockley and David Rowe. Call Number: KE8244 M34 2004.