First Newfoundlander to sit on high court welcomed to Supreme Court bench
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OTTAWA — When he wants to be, Malcolm Rowe is a man of few words, Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin observed Friday as the Newfoundlander was officially welcomed to round out the high court’s nine-person bench.
The newest judge to sit on the country’s top court, and the first to be appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau under a new vetting process, Rowe held true to that perception in a short, 10-minute speech that was both contemplative and personal.
As family, friends, cabinet ministers and current and past national and provincial leaders listened, Rowe described what he saw as some of his greatest achievements.
They weren’t the sort of lofty accomplishments one might expect by reading his resume; Rowe sat on the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal for 16 years, studied at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall Law School and later went on to work in the foreign service, was part of a team that handled an overfishing dispute on the Grand Banks and lectured in constitutional law.
