Abella, Rosalie Silberman

CONVOCATION, MAY, 1989
ROSALIE SILBERMAN ABELLA
to be Doctor of Civil Law

Canadian society, with all its blessings, is not without its blemishes. Inequities of opportunity for women, for native people, for visible minorities, and for disabled persons persist, in part because their historical and attitudinal roots run deep, nourished by myths, unwarranted beliefs, uncharitable notions, and sometimes simply mean-spiritedness. By the time the idealism of youth gives way to the cynicism born of experience, many of us have learned how difficult it is to shape biased attitudes and thereby reduce the incidence of discriminatory behaviour. A less obvious, but demonstrably effective, solution to this dilemma is to shape behaviour first -- through the imposition of laws, if necessary. When behaviour changes, attitude change is often a by-product.

Rosalie Silberman Abella has espoused and acted upon this notion throughout her career as lawyer, judge, and law professor. In a Royal Commission Report on Equality in Employment, she wrote:

"To ensure freedom from discriminator requires government intervention through law. It is not a question of whether we need regulation in this area but of where and how to apply it. Based on history, present evidence, and apprehensions for the future, the elimination of all forms of discrimination requires more, rather than less, law.

We need equal opportunity to achieve fairness in the process, and employment equity to achieve justice in the outcome.

Law in a liberal democracy is the collective expression of the public will. We are a society ruled by law -- it is our most positive mechanism for protecting and maintaining what we value. Few matters deserve the attention of law more than the right of every individual to have access to the opportunity of demonstrating full potential."

Judge Abella has been no paper tiger; she has repeatedly heeded her own call to action. Witness some of the tasks she has undertaken:

• Chair of the Ontario Law Reform Commission, a post she presently holds


• Chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board


• Sole Commissioner, Royal Commission on Equality in Employment


• Director of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice


• Director of the International Commission of Jurists (Canadian Section)


• Director of the Institute for Research on Public Policy

Some of these posts were assumed while she served with distinction as a judge of the Ontario Provincial Court (Family Division) for the period 1976 to 1987 and during her appointment as Maxwell Boulton Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law at McGill University for the 1988-89 academic year. Over the years she also found time to write four books and over thirty articles on administrative law, the Charter of Rights, labour law, public policy, family law, the judicial role, human rights, and equality.

In the Talmud it is written, "He that gives should never remember; he that receives should never forget." Women, minorities, disabled people, and native people shall not forget. Indeed, all Canadians, the ultimate benefactors of the largesse that Rosalie Abella has bestowed upon us in the form of her efforts, shall remember. We now have a society with fewer blemishes, and a new definition of equality and fairness. I quote again from Judge Abella's Royal Commission Report:

"Sometimes equality means treating people the same, despite their differences, and sometimes it means treating them as equals by accommodating their differences.

Formerly, we thought that equality only meant sameness and that treating persons as equals meant treating everyone the same. We now know that to treat everyone the same may be to offend the notion of equality. Ignoring differences may mean ignoring legitimate needs. It is not fair to use the differences between people as an excuse to exclude them arbitrarily from equitable participation. Equality means nothing if it does not mean that we are of equal worth regardless
of differences in gender, race, ethnicity, or disability."

With these words she has defined her personal and professional goals. With her actions she has gone a long way towards achieving them. To honour the accomplishments of this gracious, compassionate, dedicated arbiter and to express our gratitude to her, we at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John are pleased to bestow upon her this day the degree Doctor of Civil Law (Honoris Causa).

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2