Every year, International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8; this year’s theme is Invest in women: Accelerate Progress.
At Legal Aid Alberta, we are enriched by the hundreds of women who work with us as roster lawyers and staff lawyers. Their expertise and unwavering commitment to access to justice for all Albertans changes lives across this province, every single day. We are grateful for and celebrate the talent and excellence of the women who tirelessly represent Albertans day in and day out.
Alberta women in law have been accelerators of progress throughout the province’s entire history. Some of the most famous examples include:
- Calgary’s Alice Jamieson, whose passionate community service led to her appointment in 1914 as the British Empire’s first female judge in a juvenile court.
- Violet King, born in Calgary in 1929, who attended law school in Edmonton and became the first Black person admitted to the Bar in Alberta as well as the first Black female lawyer in Canada. She spoke out against racism in the workplace and led a successful career which included becoming the first woman to hold an executive position with the YMCA in the United States.
- The Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, born in Pincher Creek, who was the first female Chief Justice of Canada, serving from 2000 to 2017. Justice McLachlin also served as Administrator of Canada during Governor General Clarkson’s 2005 hospitalization, during which time she gave Royal Assent to the Civil Marriage Act.
Thank you to the women of LAA who continue this Alberta tradition of fighting for access, equality and inclusion every day.