Michelle O'Bonsawin (born 1973/1974) is a Canadian jurist serving as a

puisne justice A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

on 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 ...

since September 1, 2022. Before her appointment to the Supreme Court, she served as a judge on the

Ontario Superior Court of Justice The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges. ...

from 2017 to 2022. O'Bonsawin is the first

Indigenous Canadian In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the First Nations in Canada, First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in Canada, Métis. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and ''Eskimo'' have fal ...

to serve as a Supreme Court justice.

Early life

O'Bonsawin was born in Hanmer, Ontario, a

Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians (french: Franco-Ontariens or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2016, the Government of On ...

community near

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

in . Her father was a machinist and her mother worked as a teacher. She is a Franco-Ontarian and an

Abenaki The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...

member of the

Odanak First Nation Odanak is an Abenaki First Nations in Canada, First Nations Indian reserve, reserve in the Centre-du-Québec, Central Quebec region, Quebec, Canada. The mostly First Nations population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 481. The territory is located ...

Early legal career

O'Bonsawin began her legal career working for

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

legal services. O'Bonsawin worked as

in-house counsel A corporate lawyer or corporate counsel is a type of lawyer who specializes in corporate law. Corporate lawyers working inside and for corporations are called in-house counsel. Roles and responsibilities The role of a corporate lawyer is to ...

for

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

for nine years before she joined the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group in 2009. There she worked as general counsel and established its legal services department. She also appeared as counsel for the organization on mental-health cases before the

Ontario Superior Court The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges. ...

and

Ontario Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...

as well as tribunals such as Ontario's Consent and Capacity Board and the Ontario Review Board. While working, she also studied to earn a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in law from

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

. Her practice focused on mental health, labour and employment, human rights, and privacy. She also taught a course on Indigenous peoples and the law at the

University of Ottawa Faculty of Law The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (''French: Faculté de droit de l'Université d'Ottawa)'' is the law school at the University of Ottawa, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1953, the Faculty is today divided into Civil Law a ...

Ontario Superior Court of Justice

In 2017, O'Bonsawin was the first indigenous Canadian to be appointed to the

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. She assumed office on May 18, 2017. In her application for the position, she described her legal philosophy as "progressive". Concurrently while working as a judge, O'Bonsawin worked on earning a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in law from the University of Ottawa, and successfully defended her thesis on Gladue principles in February 2022. In 2017, O'Bonsawin was the trial judge for the case ''CM Callow Inc v Zollinger,'' which applied the general organizing principle of

good faith In human interactions, good faith ( la, bona fides) is a sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome of the interaction. Some Latin phrases have lost their literal meaning over centuries, but that is not the case ...

contractual performance from the 2014 Supreme Court of Canada case ''

Bhasin v Hrynew is a leading Canadian contract law case, concerning good faith as a basic organizing principle in contractual relations in Canada's common law jurisdictions. The case at hand Canadian American Financial Corp (now known as Heritage Education Fu ...

''. Callow had a two-year maintenance contract with a group of condominium corporations, which only stipulated a 10-day notice period for an early termination. The corporations decided to terminate the contract partway through the first year, but did not communicate this to Callow until half a year later, despite knowing that Callow was doing additional free work under the impression that it would help with future renewal talks. O'Bonsawin extended the duty of good faith to the termination of contracts, and found that the corporations had acted in bad faith by leading Callow to believe that the contract was going to be renewed by neither providing prompt notice of their decision to terminate nor avoiding misrepresenting their position to him. O'Bonsawin said in her decision that the law required "a minimum standard of honesty" so that contracting parties "will have a fair opportunity to protect their interests if the contract does not work out." In 2018, the

Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...

overturned her decision, ruling that she had improperly expanded the duty in a manner not directly linked to the performance of the contract and limited an expressly bargained-for right. In 2020, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada overruled the Ontario Court of Appeal, reinstated O'Bonsawin's trial award, and provided clarity on the application of ''Bhasin''. In summer 2021, she co-chaired a conference organized by an association for French-speaking judges in Ontario. In 2021, she was considered a possible candidate to succeed the retiring

Rosalie Abella Rosalie Silberman Abella (born July 1, 1946) is a Canadian jurist. In 2004, Abella was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, becoming the first Jewish woman and refugee to sit on the Canadian Supreme Court bench. She retired from the federa ...

as a Supreme Court justice from Ontario. In 2022, she was considered a possible candidate to replace outgoing Supreme Court justice

Michael Moldaver Michael Moldaver (born December 23, 1947) is a former Canadian judge. He was a puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from his 2011 appointment by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper until his retirement in 2022. Before his elevation to th ...

of Ontario.

Supreme Court of Canada

On August 19, 2022, Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

nominated O'Bonsawin to the

to replace retiring Justice

. On August 24, O'Bonsawin appeared for a special meeting with the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to answer questions from parliamentarians from both the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. On August 26, 2022, the Office of the Prime Minister announced that her appointment was formally confirmed and she would join the Supreme Court on September 1, 2022, the same day that Moldaver was retiring. O'Bonsawin is the first Indigenous person to sit on Canada's highest court.

Personal life

O'Bonsawin is

and fluently bilingual, and as of May 2022, was taking lessons in the

Abenaki language Abenaki (''Eastern: Alənαpαtəwéwαkan, Western: Alnôbaôdwawôgan'') is an endangered Algonquian language of Quebec and the northern states of New England. The language has Eastern and Western forms which differ in vocabulary and phonolog ...

. She is married with two sons.

References

External links

Supreme Court of Canada profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBonsawin, Michelle 1970s births Living people 21st-century Canadian judges Abenaki people Justices of the Court of Appeal for Ontario Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Laurentian University alumni Osgoode Hall Law School alumni People from Greater Sudbury University of Ottawa Faculty of Law alumni