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ROOTS & FOLKS Q&A
t‘Home’ always
Getting to know Marie Corbett
op of mind
by Darcy Rhyno
r
Newfoundland and Florida. A year ago,
she published a memoir, January: A
Woman Judge’s Season of Disillusion.
She recounts in intimate detail how
she helped her best friend through
cancer while working as a judge,
particularly on sexual assault trials.
Marie is a sought-after speaker on
the topic of justice for women, but
working on women’s issues is nothing
new to her. She chaired the justice
committee for the first Ontario Status
of Women council and was the founder
and first president (1994-1997) of the
Canadian chapter of the International
Association of Women Judges.
Saltscapes spoke with Marie about
large families, social pathologies and
whimsical shoes.
etired Ontario Superior Court
judge Marie Corbett divides
her time between her native
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Avondale, near St. John’s.
I have a house there—and 44 first cousins.
I feel like I’m related to everyone in
three villages.
What did your parents do?
My father died in World War II the year
I was born. He was one of the first 400
Newfoundlanders that joined the war
by serving in the British navy.
What did your mother do
after that?
She took us to Montreal with the aim of
getting us a good education. We lived
72 SaltScapeS.com june / july 2017
with my aunt and uncle for some time.
I was eight.
What do you remember
about those early days in
Newfoundland?
I remember family. I remember the
texture of the land, the closeness of
relatives and the commitment of the
community to helping one another.
Is that closeness why you went
back after you retired?
We’ve always gone back. After I married,
I took my kids there. It’s a huge
part of my life. I never feel it’s very far
from me.
What did your mother tell you
about moving to montreal?
She told me I could be anything I wanted
to be—if I didn’t look after myself,
nobody would, that there is nothing you
have married that you can’t have single.
The rest was up to me.
You felt equal to men?
I felt superior to men because I could
do everything they could do but they
couldn’t have a baby. I felt powerful. I
didn’t know there was discrimination
until I wasn’t hired for a job. The interviewer
told me I was the best qualified
but the firm didn’t want a woman.
Did that motivate you further?
Of course. My consciousness was raised
by that. It caused me to re-examine the
role of women in society.
When you were appointed to the
bench, only three per cent of
judges were women.
That’s right. We were the largest
number of women in the history of
the Toronto Law School—10 of 150.
We were freaks at the time. In the
judiciary, women are now almost half.
Your book January is as much
about helping a friend through
a terminal illness as about the
challenges of working as a
female judge.
It was a transformative period. I would
go from the hospital to the courtroom.
I wrote about her death in the context
of the court cases I had at the time. I
see doctors and lawyers as the flip sides
of a coin. I compared the pathology of
cancer to the pathology of crime—one
physical, one social—and although I
was supposed to be a powerful person, I
felt powerless. I couldn’t make her well,
and I couldn’t change crime.
Is that the reason you retired from
the Superior court at a relatively
young age?
I re-examined my life and realized the
role of a judge was narrower than I
wanted. I wanted more out of life.
Why is a section of your website
dedicated to whimsical shoes?
Precisely to be whimsical. Everything
about me is so ponderous. I’ve learned
to be a little playful. I keep forgetting
how old I am.
elaine BoucHeR
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