Justice Sheilah Martin is retiring from the country’s highest court, opening up a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada bench.
According to a statement from the court issued Tuesday, the Trudeau-era nominee is leaving effective May 30 — a day shy of her 70th birthday. The mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices is 75.
Martin said she is “deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served Canadians on our nation’s apex court,” calling it the honour of her professional life.
“I am forever thankful for the precious opportunity it provided to better understand the richness and diversity of the people in our country and the laws and institutions that allow us to live together with respect, dignity and equality,” she wrote in a statement.
“I have taken seriously the need for a strong and independent judiciary to address issues of national importance, safeguard the Constitution and promote the rule of law.”
The Montreal-born justice studied both civil and common law before moving to Alberta.
She was first appointed as a judge in 2005, and served on the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in Calgary until June 2016, when she was appointed as a judge of the Courts of Appeal of Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
She vaulted to the Supreme Court in 2017 under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Her multi-decade legal career has focused on Indigenous issues, education and equality.
Chief Justice Richard Wagner praised Martin for her “depth of her legal scholarship, her commitment to fairness, and her principled approach to justice.”
“She has made remarkable contributions to Canadian jurisprudence and her commitment to education has carried over into her career on the bench,” he wrote.
“I have always appreciated her enthusiasm in supporting initiatives that promote openness, transparency and meaningful engagement with Canadians. Her colleagues and I wish her a very happy retirement.”
Appointments to the Supreme Court are made on advice from the prime minister. Trudeau brought in a new appointment process in 2016, setting up an independent advisory board to identify and review candidates who are of the “highest calibre, functionally bilingual, and representative of the diversity of our country.”
Supreme Court justices can still participate in judgments of cases they heard for up to six months after their date of retirement.
