Anne Russell (judge)
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Madam Justice Anne Helen Russell (May 22, 1940 — ) is a former judge on the Alberta Court of Appeal.
Russell was born Anne Helen Lucas in Winnipeg, and studied Law at the University of Alberta. She was appointed to the Provincial Court of Alberta in 1984, to the Court of Queen's Bench in 1992, and to the Court of Appeal in 1994. She is one of the few Alberta judges to have served on all three courts in the province.
One of the most famous judgments she delivered was on the case of Vriend versus Alberta[1] that she presided over on the Court of Queen's Bench. The case involved a dismissal of a teacher because of his sexual orientation. She found in favor of Vriend, writing that the discrimination homosexuals suffer “is so notorious that [she could] take judicial notice of it without evidence”. The decision was overturned by the Alberta Court of Appeal, and then proceeded to the Supreme Court of Canada [2].
References
External link
- Full text of Supreme Court of Canada decision at LexUM and CanLII