Distinguished Canadian Annual Address 1998

The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada

Protecting Human Rights: A Comparative View of the United States and Canada.

The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin was appointed Chief Justice of Canada on January 7, 2000. She had been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1989. Prior to that, she was Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court from 1988 to 1989, a judge of the British Columbia Court of Appeal from 1985 to 1988, a judge of the British Columbia Supreme Court from 1981 to 1985, and a judge of the Vancouver County Court from April 1981 to September 1981.

Chief Justice McLachlin received a B.A. (Hon.) (1965), M.A. (1968) and LL.B (1968), all from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She was called to the Alberta Bar in 1969 and the British Columbia Bar in 1971. She practised law in Edmonton, Fort St. John and Vancouver from 1969 to 1974, and taught in the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Law from 1974 to 1981.

Chief Justice McLachlin chairs the Canadian Judicial Council, the Advisory Council of the Order of Canada and the Board of Governors of the National Judicial Institute.

Chief Justice McLachlin has authored many publications and is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees. She was named commander of the French Legion of Honour in 2007 and was presented with the International Jurists Award in 2008.