Réjane Laberge-Colas (8 October 19239 August 2009) was a judge of the

Quebec Superior Court The Superior Court of Quebec () 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 Quebec Court of Appeal. Jurisdictio ...

, sitting in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, and the first woman to serve as a

superior court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

judge in Canada. She was a founder and the first president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ). Laberge-Colas was inducted to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 1997.

Legal career

After placing first in the 1952 Quebec bar exam, Laberge-Colas began her career as in-house counsel to Aluminium Secretariat Ltd, an affiliate of what is now

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During ...

.See In 1957, she took a position as an articling student at Geoffrion et Prud'homme, a corporate law firm. She was named a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1968. Laberge-Colas practised at Geoffrion et Prud'homme until 1969, when she was appointed to the bench. She served as a judge of the Quebec Superior Court until 1994. Among other professional activities, Laberge served in the family law section of in the late 1960s and on an extraordinary challenge committee in connection with

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...

in 1994.

Activism

In the mid-1960s, Laberge-Colas was a member of the

Ligue des droits de l'homme The Human Rights League ( '' t du citoyen' or LDH) is a human rights non-governmental organisation, NGO association whose mission includes to observe, human rights defender, defend and promulgate human rights within the French Republic in al ...

du Quebec (Quebec Human Rights League), an organization which advocated for the ''

Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms The ''Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms'' (, ), also known as the "Quebec Charter", is a statutory bill of rights and human rights code passed by the National Assembly of Quebec on June 27, 1975. It received Royal Assent from Lieutenant Gove ...

.'' Along with

Thérèse Casgrain Marie Thérèse Casgrain (; 10 July 1896 – 3 November 1981) was a French-Canadian feminist, reformer, politician and senator. She was a leader in the fight for women's right to vote in the province of Quebec, as well as the first woman t ...

and

Monique Bégin Monique Bégin (March 1, 1936 – September 8, 2023) was a Canadian academic and politician. Early life Bégin was born in Rome to a Canadian-born sound engineer Joseph Lucien Bégin (1895–1964) and Belgian-born accountant Marie-Louise V ...

, Laberge-Colas founded the Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) in Montreal during a conference that ran from 23 to 24 April 1966. At the conference, Laberge-Colas was named the FFQ's first president. A number of members of the Ligue were also members of FFQ.

Personal life

Laberge-Colas was born in Montreal to Xiste Laberge and Isabelle Lefebvre. She married Émile Colas, a lawyer, in 1958.

Works

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laberge-Colas, Rejane 1923 births 2009 deaths Canadian women lawyers Canadian women judges Judges in Quebec Lawyers from Montreal Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery 20th-century women lawyers