A Conversation with the Honorable Rosalie Silberman Abella and Dean Matthew Diller

DEAN MATTHEW DILLER: This year we are leading up to our celebration of 100 Years of Women at Fordham Law School. In September 1918, the Fordham Law faculty voted to admit women, and we are planning to celebrate that in style. But tonight perhaps is a bit of a teaser for that. Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella is a woman of firsts. She is the first Jewish woman to sit on the bench of the Supreme Court of Canada, and before the Supreme Court, when she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court in 1976, she became the first Jewish woman judge in Canadian history. At that time, she was also the country’s second youngest judge—and I will just say, younger than thirty. Justice Abella has been awarded thirty-eight honorary degrees and was the first sitting judge elected to be a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an organization consisting of Canada’s leading scholars. She was also the first incumbent of the James R. Bullock Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies at the Hebrew University and was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. I could keep going on with the list of awards. She served as a judge of the Giller Literary Prize, Canada’s most prestigious literary award. In 2003, she was awarded the International Justice Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation and, the following year, the Walter Tarnopolsky Award for Human Rights by the Canadian Bar Association and the International Commission of Jurists. Just two years ago, the Northwestern School of Law honored Justice Abella as its Global Jurist of the Year. This gives you a sense of the accolades, awards, and accomplishments that Justice Abella has both done and received over the course of her career. Her career has been distinguished by an unflagging commitment to human rights, equality, and justice

A Generation of Human Rights: Looking Back to the Future

The author traces the development of human rights in North America since the Second World War, and examines the socio-political environment in which these developments took place. In examining what appears to be an existing backlash against the earlier vigorous pursuit of rights for disadvantaged groups, the author distinguishes between civil liberties and human rights, and focuses on how a preoccupation with civil liberties is impeding the ability to promote human rights. She concludes by discussing the evolution of human rights for women this generation, and observes that while there have been significant gains, especially numerically, there has also been increasing resistance to further fundamental change

Human rights and women: a general snapshot

Item consists of a digitized copy of a video recording of a Vancouver Institute lecture given by Rosalie Abella on February 6, 1999. Original video recording available in the University Archives (UBC VT 808).Non UBCUnreviewedOthe

Law and public policy: who decides?

Item consists of a digitized copy of a video recording of a Vancouver Institute lecture given by Rosalie Abella on November 23, 1991. Original video recording available in the University Archives (UBC VT 254).Non UBCUnreviewedOthe

International Law and Prospects for Justice

The annual David J. Bederman Lecture honors the memory of Professor David Bederman and celebrates his extraordinary accomplishments in scholarship, teaching and advocacy. The Emory International Law Review continues the tradition of publishing the lecture in Issue 4. On Monday, October 28, 2019, Emory Law’s Center for International and Comparative Law presented the annual David J. Bederman Lecture. The lecture was given by The Honorable Rosalie Silberman Abella. Justice Abella was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004. She is the first Jewish woman and first refugee appointed to the Court, having come to Canada with her family in 1950. She was first appointed to the bench at age 29, the youngest person appointed to the judiciary in Canada. She has written over 90 articles and written or co-edited four books

A Generation of Human Rights: Looking Back to the Future

The author traces the development of human rights in North America since the Second World War, and examines the socio-political environment in which these developments took place. In examining what appears to be an existing backlash against the earlier vigorous pursuit of rights for disadvantaged groups, the author distinguishes between civil liberties and human rights, and focuses on how a preoccupation with civil liberties is impeding the ability to promote human rights. She concludes by discussing the evolution of human rights for women this generation, and observes that while there have been significant gains, especially numerically, there has also been increasing resistance to further fundamental change

International Law and Prospects for Justice

The annual David J. Bederman Lecture honors the memory of Professor David Bederman and celebrates his extraordinary accomplishments in scholarship, teaching and advocacy. The Emory International Law Review continues the tradition of publishing the lecture in Issue 4. On Monday, October 28, 2019, Emory Law’s Center for International and Comparative Law presented the annual David J. Bederman Lecture. The lecture was given by The Honorable Rosalie Silberman Abella. Justice Abella was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004. She is the first Jewish woman and first refugee appointed to the Court, having come to Canada with her family in 1950. She was first appointed to the bench at age 29, the youngest person appointed to the judiciary in Canada. She has written over 90 articles and written or co-edited four books