# First Female Chief Justice of Canada! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 1999, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654 "1999-11-05T01:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/1 "1999-11-05T01:19:00Z")
This is neither Mundane nor Pointless, but neither is it GQ or GD. I thought I would share it with you, in light of the interest on this board in things legal and things Canadian. The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien, announced yesterday that Canada will have its first female Chief Justice of Canada on January 1, 2000. The incumbent Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Rt. Hon. Antonio Lamer, announced a few months ago that he will retire on December 31, 1999. The Prime Minister has decided to promote Justice Beverley McLachlin, currently on the Supreme Court, to the position of Chief Justice. The Court has 9 members, counting the Chief Justice. Of the 9, 3 are women: Justices L’Heureux-Dubé, McLachlin, and Arbour. With Chief Justice Lamer’s retirement from the Court, there will be a vacancy, from Quebec. The Prime Minister has not made any decision as yet about the replacement. (You may have heard about Justice Arbour in another context: she is the former Chief Prosecutor of the War Crimes Tribunal, dealing with the former Yugoslavia.) ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/2 "1999-11-05T01:46:00Z")
Damn! I really wanted that job. * * * This space for rent. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/3 "1999-11-05T02:10:00Z")
YESSS! (shouting intended) Hey, you guys keep it up and you may just civilize us folks to the south! –\>cheers, stomps, boogies, high-fives and generally makes a spectacle of herself while the dog yawns–\< You Canadians just rock! First you sneak talented media people to infiltrate our (don’t spit out your reindeer jerky) culture, and then placidly set reasonable good examples. Keep this up and next thing you know we’ll be evaluating people on civic requirements! Chortling madly, Veb ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/4 "1999-11-05T02:18:00Z")
She likes us! ---
**Author:** ![CanadianSue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@CanadianSue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanadianSue)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/5 "1999-11-05T02:20:00Z")
Come join us for a real beer TV * * * “Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.” ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/6 "1999-11-05T02:30:00Z")
Skooch over, guys, I’m on my way! Hey, I’ve gotten happy, philosphical drunk around campfires on New Brunswick beaches, on high Rockies camps, and Victoria B.C. too! You guys DO rock! Moosehead is great, but want to “filter” any (relatively) cheap hooch up from this direction? In my not-so-limited experience, Canadians pay the earth for alcholic delights, drink like fish, and get more joy per AUC (alcholic unit consumed) than anyone on earth, Aussies included. STILL chortling, Veb ---
**Author:** ![Momotaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Momotaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Momotaro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 1999, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/7 "1999-11-05T03:56:00Z")
I can’t wait to have our first woman prime minister. Kim Campbell doesn’t count, I mean **elected** to that position. * * * Only humans commit inhuman acts. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/8 "1999-11-07T04:05:00Z")
momotaro but we did have our first all-female race for the Premiership of PEI a few years ago (1995?) ---
**Author:** ![Momotaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Momotaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Momotaro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/9 "1999-11-07T10:19:00Z")
Really? Wow, good going PEI! Now, if only I could find you on the map… 😉 * * * Only humans commit inhuman acts. ---
**Author:** ![labradorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 1999, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-female-chief-justice-of-canada/10654/10 "1999-11-07T19:10:00Z")
> [@](#): > > but we did have our first all-female race for the Premiership of PEI a few years ago (1995?) 1. Pat Mella’s PCs got smoked by Catherine Callbeck’s Liberals. Mella won her own seat but no others. Callbeck was the first elected female first minister in Canada. There was a flash-in-the-pan Kim Campbell-type premier of B.C. whose name escapes me. The NWT had Nellie Cournoyea, but the NWT premier is selected by the Assembly after the election on account of there not being any recognized party politics at the territorial level in the NWT. There have been female major party leaders in just about every province by now, except Quebec.