Ritu Khullar

Last updated

The Honourable
Ritu Khullar
Chief Justice Khullar Digital Web Res-7471.jpg
Chief Justice of Alberta
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 28, 2022
Occupation judge

Ritu Khullar is a Canadian jurist who currently serves as the Chief Justice of Alberta, the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories, and the Nunavut Court of Appeal. [2] She was appointed on November 28, 2022, and sworn in on February 23, 2023. Prior to the Court of Appeal, Justice Khullar was appointed to the Court of King's Bench of Alberta in 2017.

Contents

The first woman of South Asian descent to be appointed as a provincial chief justice in Canada, Khullar was a prominent labour, human rights, administrative and constitutional lawyer before becoming a judge and was part of landmark Supreme Court of Canada cases such as Vriend v Alberta and R v Ewanchuk .

Early life and education

Khullar was born in 1964 in Fort Vermilion, Alberta, to teachers who emigrated from India, and was raised in the rural communities of La Crete and Morinville. [3] [4] She also lived in Jamaica from 1969 to 1972. She attended Old Scona Academic High School in Edmonton, graduating in 1981. [5] Her Punjabi mother's family is Sikh and her father's is Hindu. [6]

She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Alberta in 1985, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1991, and was admitted to the Bar of Alberta in 1992. [7] [5]

Career

After law school, Khullar served as law clerk to the Alberta Court of Appeal and Queen's Bench from 1991 to 1992, after which she worked as an associate at Milner Fennerty and another Edmonton based firm. [5] [8]

Justice Khullar was an associate and then a partner with Chivers Carpenter Lawyers from 2002 to 2009 and then managing partner from 2009 to 2017. [9] [5] According to the firm, "her practice was focused on litigation relating to public law issues including labour and employment, privacy, administrative, human rights, and constitutional law." She also represented public and private sector unions. [10]

She has also appeared in front of numerous administrative trials and every level of court in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada where she acted as counsel for the intervener for United Nurses of Alberta and Alberta Federation of Labour in Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, successfully arguing that an addiction should be seen as a disability. She has all acted pro bono at the Supreme Court for the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund in landmark cases Vriend v Alberta and R v Ewanchuk . [11] [12] Vriend led to the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected right under the Alberta Individual Rights Protection Act and Ewanchuk led to the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that the defense of implied consent is not valid in sexual assault cases, emphasizing the necessity of clear and affirmative consent. [13] [5]

As a lawyer, she was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2014. [14] Khullar was appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta as a judge in 2017. In March 2018, Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould announced Khullar's elevation to the Court of Appeal. [15]

Khullar has also taught labour, constitutional, and administrative law for fourteen years at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law, alongside various seminars on privacy and labour arbitration. [5]

Chief Justice of Alberta

On November 28, 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Khullar's appointment as Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal, replacing then Chief Justice Catherine Fraser. This made Khullar the first woman of South Asian descent to be appointed a provincial chief justice in Canada and the second woman in Alberta after her predecessor. [16] Regarding her elevation to the role, she commented, "the opportunity to serve the people of Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in this way is an enormous privilege and responsibility to which I am wholly committed." [17]

On her appointment, Trudeau wished her success and said:

She is a respected member of the legal community and brings a wealth of experience in multiple areas of law to the bench. I am confident Chief Justice Khullar will be a great asset to the people of Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. [18]

As Chief Justice, Khullar has worked on modernizing Alberta’s court system to address delays and improve efficiency. This had included allowing more remote appearances and using technology in jury selection. A major challenge she has faced is the backlog of cases, which has been a widespread issue in Canada. A 2023 report from The Advocates Society highlighted that in Alberta, it often takes over nine months to hear short applications and up to two to three years to schedule longer trials. Additionally, 22 criminal cases in Alberta were delayed by more than 30 months, putting them at risk of being dismissed due to unreasonable delay, as established in the R v Jordan (2016) decision. [16]

Awards

Jurisprudence

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg 1972 Human Rights Complaint: France’s Weasel’s Fat Story, June 10, 2024, Alberta Human Rights Commission

Khullar has stated that she believes Canada's judicial system should reflect the diversity of the country, both in demographics and in lived experiences. [21] A proponent of the living tree doctrine and judicial activism, Khullar has advocated for the rights of various protected groups, ranging from those with a disability to those under the LGBT spectrum. She described the role of judge in a constitutional democracy as having "to be alive to the interpretive principle that the constitution is a 'living tree' that is adaptable as society evolves, but is not a document that should be changed easily – the tree should not be uprooted." [5]

Describing the Constitution of Canada as an aspirational document and "not a neutral legal instrument", Khullar has used three notable 2015 Supreme Court cases known as the Labor Trilogy ( Mounted Police Association of Ontario v Canada , Meredith v. Canada (Attorney General), and Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v Saskatchewan ) to assert that their implications contributed to a significant evolution in the interpretation of part (d) of Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. [22]

Regarding R v Oakes , Khullar has discussed the development of privacy law in the context of employment and emphasized how the principles of balance and probability in the Oakes test has given labor arbitrators the ability to scrutinize the decisions of employers that have an impact on the privacy of their employers, both by shifting the power imbalance and protecting human dignity. [23]

Further, remarking on R v Duarte and R v Wong , she concurred with the judgment on how unregulated technology has the potential to threaten our fundamental right to privacy based on Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and spoke on how private sector privacy legislation should be interpreted regardless of whether the threat to a protected right is threatened by a public or private actor. As such, she remarks that legislation of that nature should be given a "broad, liberal, and purposive" interpretation to comply with both national and international standards of constitutional law. [24]

Speaking of McLachlin’s Court, Khullar stated her two favourite human rights jurisprudence landmark cases as British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Commission) v British Columbia Government Service Employees' Union and British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles) v British Columbia (Council of Human Rights). She explained the decisions as underscoring the importance of assessing the actual impact of policies on individuals and mandate that both employers and service providers accommodate individuals to the point of undue hardship, ensuring a more inclusive approach to equality rights. [25]

Publications

Personal life

Khullar is married to constitutional lawyer and public servant Rob Reynolds with whom she has two sons. [26] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of Canada</span> Highest court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts. The Supreme Court is bijural, hearing cases from two major legal traditions and bilingual, hearing cases in both official languages of Canada.

<i>Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms</i> 1982 Canadian constitutional legislation

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, often simply referred to as the Charter in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Charter guarantees certain political rights to Canadian citizens and guarantees the civil rights of everyone in Canada. It is designed to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights. The Charter was proclaimed in force by Queen Elizabeth II of Canada on April 17, 1982, as part of the Constitution Act, 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beverley McLachlin</span> Chief Justice of Canada from 2000 to 2017

Beverley Marian McLachlin is a Canadian jurist and author who served as the 17th chief justice of Canada from 2000 to 2017. She is the longest-serving chief justice in Canadian history and the first woman to hold the position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bora Laskin</span> Chief Justice of Canada from 1973 to 1984

Bora Laskin was a Canadian jurist who served as the 14th chief justice of Canada from 1973 to 1984 and as a puisne justice of the Supreme Court from 1970 to 1973. Before his Supreme Court service, he previously served on the Ontario Court of Appeal from 1965 to 1970. Prior to his appointment, Laskin worked as a lawyer and in academia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delwin Vriend</span>

Delwin Vriend is a Canadian man who was at the center of a landmark provincial and federal legal case, Vriend v. Alberta, concerning the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected human right in Canada.

John Wesley "Buzz" McClung was a historian, lawyer, jurist, and a judge of the Alberta Court of Appeal.

The Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan is the superior trial court for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

The Alberta order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the province of Alberta. It has no legal standing but is used to dictate ceremonial protocol at events of a provincial nature.

  1. The King of Canada: His Majesty King Charles III
  2. Lieutenant Governor of Alberta: Her Honour the Honourable Salma Lakhani
  3. Premier of Alberta: The Honourable Danielle Smith
  4. The Chief Justice of The Court of Appeal of Alberta: The Honourable Justice Ritu Khullar
  5. Former lieutenant governors of Alberta
    1. The Honourable Donald Ethell
    2. The Honourable Lois Mitchell
  6. Former premiers of Alberta
    1. The Honourable Ed Stelmach
    2. The Honourable Alison Redford
    3. The Honourable Dave Hancock
    4. The Honourable Rachel Notley
    5. The Honourable Jason Kenney
  7. Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta: Nathan Cooper
  8. Ambassadors and high commissioners accredited to Canada
  9. Members of the Executive Council of Alberta, in relative order of precedence as determined by the premier
  10. Leader of the Official Opposition: Christina Gray
  11. Current members of the King's Privy Council for Canada resident in Alberta, with precedence given to current members of the federal cabinet
  12. Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta with precedence governed by the date of their first election to the Legislature
  13. Members of the Senate of Canada who represent Alberta, by date of appointment
    1. The Honourable Scott Tannas
    2. The Honourable Patti LaBoucane-Benson
    3. The Honourable Paula Simons
    4. The Honourable Karen Sorensen
    5. The Honourable Daryl Fridhandler
    6. The Honourable Kristopher Wells
  14. Members of the House of Commons of Canada who represent Alberta constituencies, by date of election
  15. Superior court justices
    1. Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta: The Honourable Justice Kenneth G. Nielsen
    2. Justices of the Court of Appeal of Alberta
    3. Justices of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta
  16. Heads of religious denominations
  17. Heads of consular posts: consuls-general; consuls; vice-consuls; consular agents
  18. Judges of the Provincial Court of Alberta
    1. Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta
    2. Other judges by seniority of appointment
  19. Mayors of Alberta municipalities
  20. Aboriginal Leaders
    1. Chiefs of the Treaty First Nations in Alberta, in order of seniority of election to office;
    2. President of Métis Settlements General Council
    3. President of Métis Nation of Alberta: Audrey Poitras
  21. Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary
  22. Clerk of the Legislative Assembly
  23. Ombudsman
  24. Provincial Auditor
  25. Chief Electoral Officer
  26. Ethics Commissioner: Marguerite Trussler
  27. Information and Privacy Commissioner: Jill Clayton
  28. Deputy Ministers
  29. Senior Alberta government officials with rank of Deputy Minister as determined by the Executive Council
  30. Chief executive officers of Crown corporations
  31. Leadership of Alberta universities
    1. Chancellor of the University of Alberta: Ralph B. Young
    2. Chancellor of the University of Calgary: Jim Dinning
    3. Chancellor of the University of Lethbridge: Shirley McClellan
    4. Chairman of the Board, University of Alberta
    5. Chairman of the Board, University of Calgary
    6. Chairman of the Board, University of Lethbridge
    7. Chairman of the Board, Athabasca University
    8. Chairman of the Board, Mount Royal University
    9. Chairman of the Board, MacEwan University
    10. President of the University of Alberta: David H. Turpin
    11. President of the University of Calgary: Ed McCauley
    12. President of the University of Lethbridge: Michael J. Mahon
    13. President of Athabasca University: Frits Pannekoek
    14. President of Mount Royal University: David Docherty
    15. President of Grant MacEwan University: David W. Atkinson
  32. Police and military
    1. Commanding Officer, "K" Division, Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Curtis Zablocki
    2. Commander, 3rd Canadian Division: Brigadier-General W.H. Fletcher
    3. Commanding Officer, HMCS Nonsuch
    4. Commanding Officer, 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group
    5. Commanding Officer, 1 Area Support Group
    6. Commanding Officer, 41 Canadian Brigade Group
    7. Commanding Officer, 4 Wing
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eldon Woolliams</span> Canadian politician (1916–2001)

Eldon Mattison Woolliams, was a Canadian politician and lawyer. Wooliams served as a Progressive Conservative Party member of the House of Commons of Canada.

Mary Elizabeth Dawson was a Canadian lawyer and civil servant who was the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada. She was appointed under the Parliament of Canada Act on July 9, 2007 as the Conflict of Interest Act came into force until her term of office came to an end on January 8, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Fraser</span> Canadian lawyer and judge

Catherine Anne Fraser is a Canadian lawyer and judge who was the chief justice of Alberta from 1992 until July 30, 2022. As chief justice of Alberta, Fraser was also chief justice of the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories and the Nunavut Court of Appeal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nunavut Court of Appeal</span>

The Nunavut Court of Appeal is the highest appellate court in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Canada</span>

Human rights in Canada have come under increasing public attention and legal protection since World War II. Inspired by Canada's involvement in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the current legal framework for human rights in Canada consists of constitutional entitlements, and statutory human rights codes, both federal and provincial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian sovereignty</span> Power of Canada to govern itself

The sovereignty of Canada is, in legal terms, the power of Canada to govern itself and its subjects; it is the ultimate source of Canada's law and order. Sovereignty is also a major cultural matter in Canada. Several matters currently define Canadian sovereignty: the Canadian monarchy, telecommunication, the autonomy of the provinces, and Canada's Arctic border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Brown (judge)</span> Canadian Supreme Court Justice (born 1965)

Russell S. Brown is a former puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was nominated by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to replace outgoing justice Marshall Rothstein and served in the role starting on August 31, 2015. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, he was a justice at the Alberta Court of Appeal, and before that a law professor at the University of Alberta. He resigned on June 12, 2023, prior to the completion of an investigation by the Canadian Judicial Council into alleged harassment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in law in Canada</span>

Women work in the legal profession and related occupations throughout Canada, as lawyers, prosecutors, judges, legal scholars, law professors and law school deans. In Canada, while 37.1% of lawyers are women, "50% ...said they felt their [law] firms were doing "poorly" or "very poorly" in their provision of flexible work arrangements". It was also reported that, in 2006 in Ontario, "racialized women accounted for 16% of all lawyers under 30" and that only 1% of lawyers were Aboriginal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheilah Martin</span> Canadian judge (born 1956)

Sheilah L. Martin is a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, having served in that role since 2017. She was nominated to the court by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on November 29, 2017. Before her appointment to Canada's highest court, Martin had served on the Court of Appeal of Alberta, the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories, and the Court of Appeal of Nunavut since 2016, and the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta from 2005 to 2016.

Michelle O'Bonsawin is a Canadian jurist who is serving as a puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada since 2022. Before her appointment to the Supreme Court, she served as a judge on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice from 2017 to 2022. O'Bonsawin is the first Indigenous Canadian to serve as a Supreme Court justice.

<i>Mounted Police Association of Ontario v Canada</i> 2015 Canadian Charter/labour law case

Mounted Police Association of Ontario v Canada [2015] 1 SCR 3 is a leading Canadian labour law case concerning freedom of association under section 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Court concluded that the exclusion of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers from unionization and collective bargaining was unconstitutional, overruling Delisle v Canada. Along with Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v Saskatchewan and Meredith v Canada , the decision in MPAO represented a significant evolution in the interpretation of section 2(d), clarifying the legal standard applicable under that provision.

Mary T. Moreau is a Canadian jurist who is serving as a puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada since 2023 and is the first Franco-Albertain to sit on the Supreme Court. She formerly served as the chief justice of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta from 2017 to 2023. Her formal welcoming to the Supreme Court of Canada occurred on February 19, 2024.

References

  1. ↑ "Ritu Khullar named Alberta's new chief justice". CBC News. November 28, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Welcome to the Alberta Court of Appeal". Alberta Court Appeal. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  3. ↑ "Meet our Board of Directors: The Honourable Chief Justice Ritu Khullar". Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice. January 26, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  4. ↑ Wakefield, Jonny (February 24, 2023). "New Alberta Chief Justice Ritu Khullar sworn in". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Honourable Justice Ritu Khullar's Questionnaire". Department of Justice, Canada. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Simmons, Paula (April 3, 2018). "Role Model? It's not this judge's style". Edmonton Journal . Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  7. ↑ "The Honourable Ritu Khullar". Office of the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau. November 28, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  8. ↑ "Fraser Milner Casgrain Merger News". Pacific Rim Advisory Council. June 6, 2000. Retrieved September 9, 2024.
  9. ↑ Guiao, Micah. "Ritu Khullar named new chief justice of Alberta". Canadian Lawyer Magazine. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Chivers Law Alumni". Chivers Carpenter Lawyers. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Ritu Khullar (LLB 1991) appointed Chief Justice of Alberta". University of Toronto Faculty of Law. December 7, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  12. ↑ "United Nurses of Alberta congratulates Madam Justice Ritu Khullar on her appointment to the Court of Appeal of Alberta". United Nurses of Alberta. March 16, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Factum of the Intervener, Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) in R. v. Ewanchuk" (PDF). Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). October 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Ritu Khullar". Lancaster House. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Government of Canada announces judicial appointment in the province of Alberta". Department of Justice Canada. February 15, 2018. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  16. 1 2 Howard, Barb (December 1, 2024). "The Non-judgmental Judge". Alberta Views.
  17. ↑ "Statement By Chief Justice Ritu Khullar". Court of Appeal of Alberta. November 27, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  18. ↑ "Prime Minister announces appointment of new Chief Justice of Alberta". Office of the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau. November 22, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  19. ↑ "2020 Lifetime Achievement Award". Women in Law Leadership. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  20. ↑ "2023 Canadian Inspiration Awards". South Asian Inspiration Awards. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  21. ↑ "The Honorable Ritu Khullar". Canadian Bar Association . Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  22. ↑ Khullar, Ritu; Cosco, Vanessa (October 11, 2016). "The SCC Reimagines Freedom of Association in 2015". Constitutional Forum. 25 (2): 18. doi: 10.21991/C96H34 . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  23. ↑ Khullar, Ritu (January 19, 2016). "Influence of Oakes Outside the Charter, Specifically Labor Arbitration Jurisprudence". Ottawa Law Review . 43 (3): 18. SSRN   2717810 . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  24. ↑ Khullar, Ritu; Cosco, Vanessa (November 26, 2010). Conceptualizing the Right to Privacy in Canada (PDF) (Report). National Administrative Law, Labor and Employment Law, and Privacy and Access Law PD Conference: Canadian Bar Association . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  25. ↑ "Opining the Opinions". University of Alberta. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  26. ↑ "About Robert Reynolds, KC". Alberta Counsel. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.