The Supreme Court of Canada officially welcomed Mary Moreau today as its newest judge.

“To earn and maintain public trust in our judicial system, our laws must respect human rights,” Moreau said in her speech on the occasion.

Speaking at the event were the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Richard Wagner, the Federal Minister of Justice, Arif Virani, and other officials from the legal community, with the presence of the other eight members of the Supreme Court.

With Moreau officially taking her seat today, five of the nine Supreme Court judges are women. This is the first time that women form the majority in the Supreme Court of Canada, which was established in 1875, nearly a century and a half ago.

Moreau was born in Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta in western Canada, and belongs to the French-speaking minority in the province.

She worked for decades within her province’s court system and held the position of Chief Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Alberta from 2017 to 2023. She was the first woman and the first Francophone to hold this position.

She was officially appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest judicial authority in Canada, by the federal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last November.

Today, Moreau thanked friends and colleagues for helping her settle into her new position in the federal capital, Ottawa.

“I feel, with all this support, as if I am wrapped in a warm blanket,” Moreau said, before adding with a humorous touch that this “warmth” she feels might be “the result of wearing these ceremonial robes for the past hour,” referring to the judges’ distinctive red and white robes.

For his part, Minister Virani praised Moreau’s leadership in the rights of minorities related to Canada’s two official languages, French and English.

“As a Francophone from Alberta, she was at the forefront of defending the rights of official language minorities,” said Virani, who is of Indian origin, “I believe she has earned the status of a champion among French-speaking legal professionals across the country.”

Alberta's Minister of Justice, Mickey Amery, of Lebanese origin, also praised Moreau’s appointment as a judge on the Supreme Court of Canada.

Many speakers at the ceremony praised Moreau’s achievements in modernizing the use of technology and facilitating the use of the French language in her court in Alberta.