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Hon. Russell G. Juriansz

Hon. Russell G. Juriansz


Reason for inclusion / First: First South Asian appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and first racialized person appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Bio / Key facts: DOB - DOD, Place of Birth, Occupation: Juriansz was born in Kirkee, India on 24 December 1946. He migrated to Canada with his family on 5 April 1955 at the age of 9. In 1998, Juriansz became the first South Asian judge to sit on the Superior Court of Ontario. He was elevated to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2004 to become that court’s first racialized and South Asian judge.

Early years / Motivations: Juriansz attended the University of Toronto and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1969. He holds a law degree (1972) from Osgoode Law School. He articled at Blake, Cassels & Graydon and was called to the bar in 1974. He was a general litigation lawyer from 1974-1976; worked as a consultant to Metro Toronto Task Force on Human Relations from 1976-1977; was Legal Counsel and the General Counsel and Director of Legal Services for the Canadian Human Rights Commission from 1978-1987.

From 1984-1986 Juriansz was a lecturer on human rights law and constitutional law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa; and from 1982-1986 he was an instructor on administrative law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for the Law Society’s Bar Admission course.

In 1987 he joined Blake, Cassels & Graydon, Barristers & Solicitors initially as an associate before becoming a partner. He left in 1994 to start his own private practice, Russell Juriansz, Barristers & Solicitors. Specializing in administrative, constitutional and employment law, Juriansz appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada on several groundbreaking cases on discrimination, sexual harassment and pay equity. He also was a writer and speaker on human rights issues.

Key accomplishments / contributions: After serving for approximately 24 years as a lawyer in both government and in private practice, Juriansz became, in 1998, the first person of South Asian origin to be appointed a Superior Court judge in Ontario. He was President of the Ontario Superior Court Judges’ Association from April 2002 - March 2004. He was elevated to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2004, the first racialized and South Asian judge to join the Court.

Later years / Present day: On 25 September, 2015 at the Law Society’s Call to the Bar Ceremony, Justice Juriansz was presented with a degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LLD) in recognition of his outstanding achievement in the legal profession. He is one of only two South Asians to have received this degree. In his keynote address he recalled the discrimination he faced growing up in Toronto during the 1950s and 1960s. He also spoke about the transformative power of change. Addressing the young lawyers in the audience, he said: “Don’t be satisfied with just practising law. Search for ways to improve the law and legal process and then work to change things. A lot of people, when they find themselves in a situation, they take it as this is how things are, this is the way it’s always been done. That is not a satisfactory approach. Nothing remains the same. Things are going to change. You can either drift along or you can choose to be an agent of change.”

Other / Interesting facts: A 2016 Report in Policy Options found that, across Canada, only 0.6% of Superior Court judges and 1.3% of Provincial Court of Appeals judges were racialized.

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