JUSTICE SOPINKA
Justice Sopinka was waiting for me. The Chief Justice had phoned him to tell him I was on my way.
All I can remember from the interview was the horror in Justice Sopinka's eyes when he saw me approaching. There I was stumbling into his office, loaded down with books, recording equipment dangling almost to the floor, approaching the arm chairs surrounding the coffee table.
Justice Sopinka held his breath waiting for disaster. And the potential for disaster on a scale of 1-10 was 9 1/2!
Piled 2-feet high on the table were 3000 pages separated in folders 2 feet high. Cases waiting for a decision.
I don’t know how I managed it, but the recording equipment did not topple down on the files and cause a disaster!
JUSTICE PETER CORY
Justice Peter Cory set the frame of fellowship for all the other Justices. Every afternoon at 4:30 sharp he would go hopping from office to office like a delightful leprechaun and an impish smile offering a cookie from his cookie box!
Justice Cory was the only other Justice to ask for corrections - with great care not to cause discomfort in the interviewer.
“I do believe my name has been misspelled!"
JUSTICE CLAIRE L'HEUREUX DUBE.
Justice Claire L’Heureux Dube put the curse of the Justices on me.
"We trust you, Claire!”
It was the equivalent of being crossed and blessed before the altar.
With one wave of her hand, I felt compelled to declare my faith and allegiance to the Supreme Court of Canada and swear I would not take the words of the Justices in vain!
I was in such awe, that without being asked, I submitted my draft to the Court for vetting. It must have been the first time it happened.
Actually Justice L'Heureux Dube asked me to remove one quote.
The Justices at that time were in a terrible quandary.
They were short one Justice and the workload was enormous because the Bill of Rights had just been passed by Parliament and it had overturned all the precedents of the Court.
What Justice l'Heureux Dube asked for was that I didn't quote her that the Justices were pleading with the government to speed up the decision process and appoint the missing justice. (There is supposed to be a separation of powers and no communication between the Justices and the government.) Part 3 Some of the most revealing answers I got were to questions I asked after I shut off the microphone.
T A woman of tremendous strength, she got the call that she was appointed to the bench only 5 days after husband had died. There’s a wonderful story about Justice McLaughlin how she received the request for her hand in marriage over the loudspeaker of the
