Bertha Wilson
Bertha Wernham Wilson CC FRSC (September 18, 1923 – April 28, 2007) was a Canadian jurist and the first female puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Before her ascension to Canada's highest court, she was the first female associate and partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt and the first woman appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. During her time at Osler, she created the first in-firm research department in the Canadian legal industry.
This article is about the Canadian judge. For the American dramatist, see Bertha M. Wilson.
Bertha Wilson
Early life[edit]
Wilson was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on September 18, 1923.[1] She was the daughter of Archibald Wernham and Christina Noble.[2] Wilson received a Master of Arts degree in philosophy from the University of Aberdeen in 1944. In 1949, Bertha Wilson emigrated to Canada with her husband, Reverend John Wilson, a Presbyterian minister, whom she had married in 1945.[1] The couple settled in Renfrew, Ontario, after John Wilson accepted a posting as a pastor. Bertha Wilson had personally felt quite small in her space, and had always dreamed in pursuit of philosophy.[3] Three years later, in 1952, her husband became a naval chaplain during the Korean War, and she worked as a dental receptionist in Ottawa. In 1954, her husband was posted to Halifax, Nova Scotia and they both moved.[4]
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples[edit]
From 1991 to 1996, Wilson was a Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP).[1] She gave a controversial and much-discussed speech about the role and influence of women in legal professions and the judiciary, titled "Will Women Judges Really Make a Difference?"[7]
Death[edit]
Wilson developed Alzheimer's disease later in life and died in an Ottawa, Ontario, retirement home on April 28, 2007, at the age of 83.[8]