Indigenous Justice Michelle Obonswain has been named to the Supreme Court by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, setting a precedent for a country that has begun a process of reconciliation with its aboriginal peoples.
Obonsauen is of the Abanaki ancestry, one of the original Oudanac tribes in Quebec. She is brilliantly multilingual, alluding to French and English, which Justin Trudeau has promised to emphasize at a time when the French language is dwindling in Canada, according to recent government data.
I am happy to announce Judge Michelle Obonswain’s appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, the Prime Minister stated in a statement.
She is a well recognized member of the Canadian legal community with a tremendous career, he wrote on Twitter.
You will provide vital information to our country’s top court.
Obonswain, who specializes in mental health and human rights, has been a judge at the Ontario Supreme Court of Justice since 2017.
I feel that my experience as a Francophone First Nations woman, mother, lawyer, researcher, and judge provides me with a profound insight and awareness of Canadian diversity since I and my life experience are part of that variety, she said on her application form, which was released.
My experience has taught me that, while prejudice exists in Canada, my talents enable me to contribute to my position in our country and help us become a more inclusive society, she added.
Michelle Obonswain’s selection makes her the sixth justice chosen by Justin Trudeau from among the Supreme Court’s nine justices.
Discrimination against Aboriginal people has sparked heated controversy in Canadian culture, particularly since hundreds of corpses were uncovered on the grounds of a former Aboriginal religious boarding school in the spring of 2021.
Pope Francis visited Canada three weeks ago to apologize for Church members’ abuses in Aboriginal boarding schools.
Trudeau changed the way judges are selected in 2016 to preserve their independence and openness.
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