Collection search - Bertha Wilson fonds [multiple media]

Record information – Brief
1
Bertha Wilson fonds [multiple media]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1922-2007.

Reference:

R15636-0-4-E

Type of material:

Photographs, Textual material, Moving images, Objects (including medals and pins)

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

4894168

Context of this record:

Show detail Hide detail

Bertha Wilson fonds
Link to this record

Add to My Research

Link to this record

This link identifies the web page describing this particular record. Unlike the temporary link in your browser, this link will allow you to access, and reference, this page in the future. To link to this descriptive record, copy and paste the URL where ever needed (wiki, blog, document).

Sign in

Sign in to start saving records using My Research

Sign in
Record information – Details

Fonds includes:

11 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1922-2007.

Place of creation:

Canada

Added country of publication:

Australia, Scotland, China, New Zealand, United States, Russia (Federation)

Extent:

10.8 m of textual records.
291 photographs : b&w and col. prints ; 28 x 35.5 cm or smaller.
45 photographs : col. negatives ; 4.5 x 6 cm.
3 videocassettes (40 min., 41 sec.).
2 plaques.
1 political button.

Language of material:

English

Added language of material:

English, French, Russian

Scope and content:

Show detail Hide detail

This fonds consists of records related to all aspects of Madam Bertha Wilson's life and career. This includes documenting her early life including her education, marriage and life as the wife of a Reverend; as well as documenting all aspects of her career, such as a Justice at both the Supreme Court of Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada.

This fonds is divided into 11 series: Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, Supreme Court of Ontario, Supreme Court of Canada, United Church of Canada, Task Force on Gender Equality, Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Personal Files, Speeches and Lectures, Awards and Honours, John Wilson, and Ellen Anders Research Material and Drafts. The series are further divided into sub-series.

The types of records in this fonds include correspondence, reports, articles, memoranda, press clippings, photographs, programs, bench notes, judgments, case files, speeches, and briefing material.

Provenance:

Show detail Hide detail

Wilson, Bertha, 1923-2007

Biography/Administrative history:

Show detail Hide detail

Wilson, Bertha, 1923-2007 : Bertha Wilson was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland on September 18, 1923. She obtained her M.A. from the University of Aberdeen in 1944, followed by a Diploma in Education conferred by the Training College for Teachers in Aberdeen the following year. She married the Reverend John Wilson in December 1945. Four years later, Wilson, accompanied by her husband, emigrated from Scotland to Canada. In 1955 she decided to pursue law at Dalhousie University, earning her LL.B in 1958 and was called to the bar of Nova Scotia.

That same year she relocated to Ontario, where she was summoned to the Bar in 1959. In Toronto, Wilson maintained a long-standing practice (1959-1975) with the firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, becoming their first female lawyer and, later, partner. She was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario (now the Ontario Court of Appeal) in 1975. There, as the first female judge, she gained considerable notice for her creative and compassionate rulings in cases, especially as they pertained to human rights, discrimination, matrimonial property, and child custody.

Having distinguished herself with seven years of provincial court appellate experience, she was promoted to the Supreme Court of Canada on March 4, 1982, in part owing to vigorous feminist lobbying. During her tenure there, which coincided with the introduction of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Wilson was party to several historic Supreme Court rulings that forever altered the sociocultural Canadian landscape, notably the 1988 abolition of the abortion law, a momentous, albeit controversial, judicial decision. Wilson herself authored fifty-plus Charter decisions. In 1984, she was cross-appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration. She retired from the Supreme Court on January 4, 1991.

After her retirement from the bench, Wilson presided as Commissioner from 1991 to 1996 over the Erasmus-Dussault Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Wilson was also appointed as Chair of the Canadian Bar Association's Task Force on Gender Equality, from 1991 to 1993.

In honour of her tremendous contributions to the legal profession, she was admitted, by election, into the Royal Society of Canada (Fellow, 1991) and inducted into the Order of Canada (Companion, 1992). The Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, honours their celebrated alumna through the Bertha Wilson Honor Society (2012).

Bertha Wilson died April 28, 2007, at the age of 84.

Finding aid:

Show detail Hide detail

(Electronic) See MISACS for item level descriptions. (90: Open)

Textual record, graphic material, object (Electronic) Finding aid is a file list describing volumes 1 to 57 MSS2578 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf002/p000003306.pdf

Source:

Private

Related control no.:

Show detail Hide detail

120-020145-0
2000-01379-1
2016-00071-6
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Show detail Hide detail

Access restriction document

http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/r000001280.pdf

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation96 Restrictions vary]

Textual records

[Consultation96 Restrictions vary]

Moving images (video)

[Consultation90 Open]

Object

[Consultation90 Open]

You can order materials in advance to be ready for you when you visit. You will need a user card to do this.

Cannot visit us on site? You can purchase a copy to be sent to you. Some restrictions may apply.

Report a problem on this page

Date modified:: 2024-05-10