Justice Bertha Wilson: Obituary

The Honourable Madam Justice Bertha Wilson passed away on April 28, 2007 of Alzheiver's Disease. She is survived by her husband, Reverend John Wilson, brother James and two nephews.

The Honourable Madam Justice Bertha Wilson

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of the Hon. Madam Justice Bertha Wilson

Bertha Wilson was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, on September 18, 1923. She is the daughter of Archibald Wernham and Christina Noble. She attended the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and graduated with an M.A. in 1944. She continued her education at the Training College for Teachers in Aberdeen, obtaining her diploma in 1945. She married the Reverend John Wilson in December 1945 and they emigrated to Canada in 1949. In 1955 she enrolled at Dalhousie University to study law, and three years later she completed her LL.B. and was called to the bar of Nova Scotia. In 1959 she was called to the bar of Ontario and practised law in Toronto with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt for 16 years. She was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1975 and to the Supreme Court of Canada on March 4, 1982. She was also appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 1984. Justice Wilson served on the Supreme Court for eight years and retired on January 4, 1991. She was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. She was independent and often found herself writing a minority opinion. Professor Cameron described her as "very much an individual and a loner and so I think it was a struggle to find her voie, to calm her voice and to maintain the integrity of her own voice." She was brilliant, and advanced equal rights in Canada and brought the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to ordinary Canadians and made it meaningful. In one case she wrote a minority opinion in favour or a young girl who was denied a spot on a boy's softball team because she was girls notwithstanding the fact she was very qualified to play.