Claire L’Heureux-Dubé

Constance Backhouse holds a Distinguished University Chair and a University Research Chair in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. Among her many books are Carnal Crimes: Sexual Assault Law in Canada, 1900–1975 (2008); The Heiress vs the Establishment: Mrs. Campbell’s Campaign for Legal Justice (2004; with Nancy L. Backhouse); Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900–1950 (1999); and Petticoats and Prejudice: Women and Law in Nineteenth-Century Canada (1991). Professor Backhouse has received the Augusta Stowe-Gullen Medal (1981), the J. Willard Hurst Prize (1992), the Law Society Medal (1998), a Bora Laskin National Fellowship in Human Rights Research (1999), a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellowship (2006), the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Law (2006), the Killam Prize (2008), the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case (2013), and the Molson Prize (2015). She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2004 and was named to the Order of Canada in 2008 and the Order of Ontario in 2010.

Foreword

Chronology

Introduction

1 Ewanchuk

Family Heritage and Childhood

2 Lineage: Of Elephants, Literary Salons, the Military, and Mozart

3 Early Years: Quebec City and Rimouski

4 Growing Up in Rimouski

Early Education

5 Life as a Pensionnaire with the Ursulines, 1937–43

6 Collège Notre-Dame-de-Bellevue: Classical Studies for a Baccalauréat, 1943–46

A Legal Education

7 The Decision to Go to Law School, 1946–48

8 Laval Law School Student Body, 1948–52

9 Laval Law School Faculty and Curriculum, 1948–52

10 Life Outside of Law School, 1949–52

Law Practice

11 Entry: A Law Firm Job, 1952

12 Sam Bard: The Man behind the Employment Offer

13 Business Law Practice

14 Marriage and Children

15 Family Law: The Later Years of Practice

16 Practising as a Woman

Quebec Superior Court

17 New Career Directions: “No” to Electoral Politics, “Yes” to the Bench, 1972–73

18 First Months on the Bench, February to October 1973

19 Immigration Commission of Inquiry, October 1973 to January 1976

20 Quebec Superior Court, 1976–79

21 Family Tragedy: Arthur’s Death, 11 July 1978

Quebec Court of Appeal

22 Appointment to the Quebec Court of Appeal, 1979

23 Appellate Judging, 1979–87

24 More Family Traumas

Supreme Court of Canada

25 Appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, 1987

26 Early Days on the Supreme Court of Canada

27 Continuing Isolation on the Supreme Court

28 Fifteen Years of Jurisprudence, 1987–2002: “The Great Dissenter”

Selected Cases

29 Sexual Assault: Seaboyer, 1991

30 Family Law and Spousal Support: Moge, 1992

31 Human Rights for Same-Sex Couples: Mossop, 1993

32 Tax Law and Sex Discrimination: Symes, 1993

33 More Deaths, 1987–94

34 The Quebec Secession Reference: “The Most Important Case,” 1998

35 Fairness in Immigration Law: Baker, 1999

36 Epilogue on Ewanchuk

A Wider Stage

37 Judicial Education and International Influence

38 Retirement: A Much Heralded Exit

Conclusion

Notes

Index