The Honourable Madam Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 2:00 p.m. Convocation ceremony on Sunday, November 13, “in recognition of her outstanding contribution to social and legal policy and human rights.”
Abella was born in a displaced persons camp in Stuttgart, Germany, after World War II, and immigrated to Canada with her family in 1950. She received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto in 1970 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1972. In 1976, she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court, becoming the youngest judge in Canadian history. She became the first Jewish woman to sit on the Canadian Supreme Court bench when she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in August 2004.
Abella, who is considered one of Canada’s foremost experts in human rights law, has also been a chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board and the Ontario Law Reform Commission, and a board member of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. She served on the Canadian Judicial Council’s Inquiry on Donald Marshall Jr.
Abella was the author of the 1984 Federal Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, in which she coined the term employment equity. She is the author of more than 70 legal articles and author or co-editor of four books on a variety of legal topics. She is a frequent lecturer, both in Canada and internationally.
Abella has also been active in Canadian cultural life. She has been a judge of the Giller Prize and has studied classical piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music.