Ritu Khullar

Last updated

The Honourable
Ritu Khullar
Ritu Khullar in 2018.jpg
Ritu Khullar in 2018
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 and Chief Justice of 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.

Contents

Prior to the Court of Appeal, Justice Khullar was appointed to the Court of King's Bench of Alberta in 2017. She is the first woman of South Asian descent to be appointed as a provincial chief justice in Canada.

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 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 where she successfully argued that an addiction should be seen as a disability, and pro bono for the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund in Vriend v Alberta and R v Ewanchuk . [11] [12] She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2014. [13]

Khullar was appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta in 2017. In March 2018, Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould announced Khullar's elevation to the Court of Appeal. [14]

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. 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." [15]

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. [16]

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]

Awards

Publications

Jurisprudence

Khullar has stated that she believes Canada's judicial system should reflect the diversity of the country, both in demographics and in lived experiences. [19] 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. [20]

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. [21]

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. [22]

Personal life

Khullar is married to constitutional lawyer and public servant Rob Reynolds with whom she has two sons, Samir and Nikhil. [23] [6]

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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 "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. ↑ "Ritu Khullar". Lancaster House. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Government of Canada announces judicial appointment in the province of Alberta". Department of Justice Canada. February 15, 2018. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Statement By Chief Justice Ritu Khullar". Court of Appeal of Alberta. November 27, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  16. ↑ "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.
  17. ↑ "2020 Lifetime Achievement Award". Women in Law Leadership. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  18. ↑ "2023 Canadian Inspiration Awards". South Asian Inspiration Awards. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  19. ↑ "The Honorable Ritu Khullar". Canadian Bar Association . Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ 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.
  23. ↑ "About Robert Reynolds, KC". Alberta Counsel. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
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