Sheilah Martin

Martin was born and raised in Montreal.{{Cite news|url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/pm-trudeau-names-sheilah-l-martin-to-supreme-court-1.3698759|title=PM Trudeau names Sheilah L. Martin to Supreme Court|date=November 29, 2017|work=CTVNews|access-date=November 29, 2017|agency=The Canadian Press|language=en-CA|archive-date=December 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201015114/http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/pm-trudeau-names-sheilah-l-martin-to-supreme-court-1.3698759|url-status=live}} She earned a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Bachelor of Common Law from McGill University in 1981.{{Cite news|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/3886962/supreme-court-justice-sheilah-martin/|title=New Supreme Court justice will be Alberta's Sheilah Martin|last=Connolly|first=Amanda|date=November 29, 2017|work=Global News|access-date=November 29, 2017|language=en|archive-date=November 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129155923/https://globalnews.ca/news/3886962/supreme-court-justice-sheilah-martin/|url-status=live}} She then moved to Alberta to pursue her career. Martin was called to the Alberta Bar in 1989, and has mainly practiced in the province since.

Martin earned a Master of Laws from the University of Alberta in 1983. Between 1982 and 1986, she worked as a researcher and law professor at the University of Calgary.{{Cite news|url=http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds/author/mallory-hendry/sheilah-martin-is-new-scc-judge-15016/|title=Sheilah Martin is new SCC judge|last=Hendry|first=Mallory|date=November 29, 2017|work=Canadian Lawyer Magazine|access-date=November 29, 2017|language=en|archive-date=November 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129185159/http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds/author/mallory-hendry/sheilah-martin-is-new-scc-judge-15016/|url-status=live}} Martin earned her Doctorate of Juridical Science from the University of Toronto in 1991. She then served as acting dean and then permanent dean of the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law from 1991 to 1996.

Martin practiced corporate, commercial, criminal, and constitutional law from 1996 until she left Code Hunter LLP after her appointment as a judge in 2005.{{Cite web|url=http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1070152/sheilah-martin-cour-supreme-canada|title=Sheilah L. Martin à la Cour suprême du Canada|date=November 29, 2017|website=Radio-Canada.ca|language=fr-ca|access-date=November 29, 2017|archive-date=November 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129162022/http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1070152/sheilah-martin-cour-supreme-canada|url-status=live}} She also worked pro bono for the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and the Alberta Association of Sexual Assault Centres in cases that reached the Supreme Court. Martin also worked on the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, and on the team that won compensation in the wrongful conviction case of David Milgaard.

Over the years, Martin has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Service Award for Legal Scholarship, the Law Society of Alberta’s Certificate of Merit, and the YWCA’s Advancement of Women Award.{{Cite news|url=http://pipellalaw.com/blogs/madam-justice-sheilah-martin-holds-court-at-famous-5-event/|title=Madam Justice Sheilah Martin Holds Court At Famous 5 Event {{!}} Pipella Law|work=Pipella Law|access-date=2018-12-01|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201093050/http://pipellalaw.com/blogs/madam-justice-sheilah-martin-holds-court-at-famous-5-event/|url-status=live}}

In 2005, Martin was appointed as judge to the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in Calgary. Since 2009, she had also served as a deputy judge for the Supreme Court of Yukon. As a trial judge, she was one of the first judges in Canada to permit court journalists to use instant messaging in the courtroom while proceedings were ongoing.

In March 2016, Martin issued the first judicial approval in Canada for a person requesting assisted death after the Supreme Court's decision in Carter v Canada (AG). She allowed the assisted death for a woman diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and held the hearing closed to the public and media to respect her privacy. Martin decided that statements in support of the application from two doctors were sufficient, a decision which rejected guidelines from the Supreme Court of British Columbia and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that more statements were required. Martin also held that no psychiatric assessment on the day of death was necessary, and that the applicant's request should not fail on technical or legalistic grounds. Martin also ruled that the ruling would apply across Canada, which allowed the applicant to travel out of province in order to fulfill her wish of assisted death.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/calgary-woman-first-to-receive-judge-approved-assisted-death/article28974818/|title=ALS sufferer first Canadian to receive judge's approval for assisted death|last1=Fine|first1=Sean|date=March 1, 2016|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=November 29, 2017|last2=Church|first2=Elizabeth|archive-date=November 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127155526/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/calgary-woman-first-to-receive-judge-approved-assisted-death/article28974818//|url-status=live}}

In June 2016, Martin was appointed by Prime Minister Trudeau to the Court of Appeal of Alberta, the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories, and the Court of Appeal of Nunavut.

Martin was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on December 18, 2017.{{cite web |url=https://www.scc-csc.ca/judges-juges/bio-eng.aspx?id=sheilah-l-martin |website=Supreme Court of Canada |title= The Honourable Sheilah L Martin |access-date=2024-05-21 }}

Martin was married to Hersh Wolch, a defence lawyer she met at a law conference, from 2000 until his death in 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hersh-wolch-a-voice-for-the-wrongly-convicted-dies-at-77/article35891787/|title=Hersh Wolch, a voice for the wrongly convicted, dead at 77|last=Robertson|first=Patricia Dawn|date=August 6, 2017|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=November 29, 2017|archive-date=February 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216132245/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hersh-wolch-a-voice-for-the-wrongly-convicted-dies-at-77/article35891787/|url-status=live}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• [https://www.scc-csc.ca/judges-juges/bio-eng.aspx?id=sheilah-l-martin Supreme Court of Canada profile]
• [http://www.fja-cmf.gc.ca/scc-csc/nominee-candidat-eng.html Candidate questionnaire filled out by Justice Sheilah L. Martin]

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Category:Living people

Category:Anglophone Quebec people

Category:Canadian women judges

Category:Judges in Alberta

Category:Judges in the Northwest Territories

Category:Judges in Yukon

Category:Judges in Nunavut

Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada

Category:Lawyers from Montreal

Category:21st-century Canadian judges

Category:21st-century Canadian women judges

Category:1956 births