Anne Helen Russell (born May 22, 1940) is a former judge on the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Life

Russell was born Anne Helen Lucas in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

and studied law at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. She was appointed to the

Provincial Court of Alberta The Provincial Court of Alberta is the Provincial Court for the Canadian province of Alberta. The Court oversees matters relating to criminal law, family law, youth law, civil law and traffic law. The current Provincial Court is the first point o ...

in 1984, to the Court of Queen's Bench in 1992, and to the Court of Appeal in 1994. She served until her retirement in 2006. She is one of the few Alberta judges who have served on all three courts in the province. One of the most famous judgements she delivered was on the case of Vriend versus Alberta that she presided over on the Court of Queen's Bench. The case involved a dismissal of a teacher because of his

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

. She found in favour of Vriend – a decision that was overturned by the Court of Appeal, but which then proceeded to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

, where Russell's original ruling was upheld. She currently lives in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Anne 1940 births Living people Canadian women judges Judges in Alberta People from Winnipeg Members of the Order of Canada People from Victoria, British Columbia