Marie Deschamps, CC (born October 2, 1952) is a former

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 ...

of 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 ...

. She retired from the court on August 7, 2012. In September 2019, Deschamps was appointed as a member of the

National Security and Intelligence Review Agency The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA; french: Office de surveillance des activités en matière de sécurité nationale et de renseignement, OSSNR) is an independent government agency organized to review all national security ...

Early life

Deschamps was born in

Repentigny, Quebec Repentigny () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located north of the city on the lower end of the L'Assomption River, and on the Saint Lawrence River. Repentigny and Charlemagne were the first towns off the eastern tip ...

Education

She studied law at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

, graduating in 1974, and completing a Master of Law (LL.M) in 1983 at

McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...

Career

Legal and judicial

She was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1975 and then practised civil, commercial and family law at several Quebec law firms until 1990. In April 1990, Deschamps was appointed to the

Quebec Superior Court The Superior Court of Quebec (french: Cour supérieure du Québec) is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Qu ...

and in March 1992 to the

Quebec Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Quebec (sometimes referred to as Quebec Court of Appeal or QCA) (in French: ''la Cour d'appel du Québec'') is the highest judicial court in Quebec, Canada. It hears cases in Quebec City and Montreal. History The Court wa ...

. She was promoted to the

in September 2002, at the age of 49, as the 75th judge appointed to the Supreme Court. Cristin Schmitz, "Deschamps plans to chart her own course". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', September 9, 2002: A3. She retired from the court on August 7, 2012. On October 2, 2012,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

nominated

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

to the

to replace her. In 2014, the Government of Canada named Justice Deschamps to conduct an external review into

sexual assault in the Canadian Forces Sexual assault in the Canadian Armed Forces has been a pervasive issue affecting women, youth, and men in the Canadian Forces and Canadian Cadet Organizations. Canadian Forces sexual assault cases have been extensively reported in national Ca ...

. The report was published on March 27, 2015.

Academic

Deschamps has taken on several academic posts: :* Associate Professor at the

Université de Sherbrooke The University of Sherbrooke ( French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It ...

in 2006 :* Faculty Researcher at the

McGill University Faculty of Law The Faculty of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest law school in Canada, and continually ranks among the best law schools in the world. The faculty is known for it ...

in 2012

NSIRA

In September 2019, Deschamps was made a member of the

by 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 ...

Honours

In 2013, she was invested as a Companion of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

"for her numerous contributions as a jurist and for her dedication to youth development".

Personal

At the time of her appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, Deschamps was noted as also being a

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

runner. Her common law spouse,

Paul Gobeil Paul Gobeil (born March 1, 1942) is a Canadian businessman and former politician. Gobeil was born in Saint-Rémi-de-Tingwick, Quebec. From 1985 to 1989, Mr. Gobeil was a Liberal member of the National Assembly for the riding of Verdun and ser ...

, was a former member of the

Quebec National Assembly The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members ...

, who had served in the cabinet of Premier

Robert Bourassa Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just un ...

References

1952 births Canadian women judges Companions of the Order of Canada Constitutional court women judges Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Living people McGill University alumni People from Repentigny, Quebec Université de Montréal alumni Université de Montréal Faculty of Law alumni McGill University Faculty of Law alumni {{Canada-law-bio-stub