Court Adjourned: Farewell Justice Stevenson

As reported by the Calgary Herald, on December 11^th, 2024, Justice Brian Stevenson said goodbye to his seat at the Judge’s Dias – a chair that he occupied for five-decades. 

“If that’s all we have today I think we can adjourn,” he said.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/calgary-judge-brian-stevenson-ends-illustrious-career-50-years#:~:text=Article%20content-,While%20no%20official%20records%20are%20kept%2C%20it's%20believed%20Stevenson's%20more,sitting%20judge%20in%20Canadian%20history.

It’s remarkable to think that in Canada’s 157 years as a country, Brian Stevenson has been presiding over cases for fifty of them.

In 1974, when Justice Brian Stevensen sat for his first day as a judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta (as it was then named), this Criminal Defence Lawyer was but a toddler. Approximately eight years after he heard his first case, Judge Stevensen decided one of the most important constitutional cases in Canadian history: R. v. Big M.Drug Mart (1983) 4 W.W.R. 54 (“Big M”).

The Big M case was an important judicial decision in Canada because it (1) addressed freedom of religion as guaranteed by s. 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and (2) effectively recognized the Provincial Court as a court of competent jurisdiction to make determinations under the Charter.  

In Big M, Judge Stevenson’s wisdom was largely embraced by the Supreme Court of Canada. In his words:

It is well known that there are citizens of Canada of many different faiths. Citizens of Canada may be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Shinto, Buddist, Hindu, Unitarian, Unification, atheist, agnostic, or not religious at all. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes and entrenches the right to have these diversities in beliefs, both in the preamble, and in s. 2(a) and (b). The question is, therefore, what effect has the Charter of Rights and Freedoms had on the common law of Canada, a common law that has been held by so many courts to include Christian principles? After studying the authorities,.and recognizing the divergent religious beliefs held by many Canadians, my interpretation of the preamble to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is that it repeals any common law Christian principles regarding the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath that may have been perceived, correctly or incorrectly, by jurists and others, to have existed.

I can’t help but juxtapose my years against Justice Stevenson’s long tenure as a sitting judge.

Approximately 2 1/2 decades after Judge Stephenson was appointed by then Premier Peter Lougheed and approximately 17 years after he decided Big M Drug Mart, I was sitting in a lecture hall at the University of Calgary, beginning my first year of law school. In that same year – 1999 -- I started presenting cases as an agent with Student Legal Assistance (SLA), under the tutelage of Margaret Keelaghan (now Justice Keelaghan), who was then our advising lawyer. Justice Stevenson was then the Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.

It's interesting to think that Judge Stevenson not only presided over tens of thousands of criminal cases, but also presided over the careers of so many people who had the privilege of appearing in his court.  These people are not just the lawyers; they are the clerks, sheriffs, court administration and his fellow judges.

Five decades! 

That’s the span of almost my entire life; that is the span my entire legal career.

I don’t think it would be a stretch to think that Justice Stevenson has heard well over 100,000 cases. Indeed, that is probably a rather conservative number.  While no person is perfect, I surmise that most of Judge Stevenson's cases were concluded precisely that way: perfectly.

What is most remarkable about Justice Stevenson is that throughout his entire tenure as a judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta, he maintained the highest degree of civility, professionalism, wisdom, intelligence, kindness and fairness – adjectives that in my opinion are fading in today’s legal profession.

We can all take a lesson.

While there are lawyers, such as myself who think that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has begun to take on a less significant role over the years - its importance diminished - I have always been of the view that Justice Stevenson could always be counted-on to safeguard its principles. 

Again, we can all take a lesson.

I wish Justice Stevenson well. He will be missed. His lessons will be missed.

Ironically, while I am happy that he is retiring, I am at the same time saddened by the loss. It’s hard to imagine that his court is truly adjourned.

Today, all I can really say is “thank you”.

Yours truly,

David Chow