University of Winnipeg Collegiate students filled Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall on Monday, September 23 for the opportunity to meet with Justice Nicholas Kasirer from Canada’s Supreme Court and Associate Chief Justice Shane Perlmutter from Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench.
This visit challenged our students to think deeper about issues facing all Canadians.
Kevin Clace
Collegiate students Sumaiya Abas and Dev Sharma, who are both active in the Collegiate’s Student Council, participated in the event. Abas is student council deputy prime minister, while Sharma is prime minister. They were thrilled to have the opportunity to meet and ask questions of a Supreme Court Justice.
The Collegiate was one of only nine Winnipeg high schools the Supreme Court Judges visited.
“The Collegiate is honoured to be one of the high schools chosen for this visit,” said Dean Kevin Clace. “This visit challenged our students to think deeper about issues facing all Canadians, and I was proud of how thoughtful and intelligent the students’ questions were.”
It’s a historical occasion, as the Supreme Court of Canada will hear two appeals in Winnipeg this week, the first time in history the court will sit outside Ottawa. The first will be a case about the right to a trial in a reasonable time. The Supreme Court will determine if the time a judge takes to decide a case should count when establishing if a trial is taking too long. The second case is about language education rights for French speakers in British Columbia. The Supreme Court has to decide what school services the province must have for its small French-speaking community.
The visit inspired students to learn more about the Canadian Supreme Court and gave all in attendance a clearer picture of the tools available to access information about Canada’s judicial system.