Kyla Lee on City New: B.C. Chief Justice’s retirement gives opportunity to diversify bench
An opportunity to bring in more diversity to the Supreme Court of British Columbia is coming as B.C.’s current chief justice, Christopher E. Hinkson, is retiring from the position come October, after serving in the role since 2013. It is a chance to implement change to a position that has been historically held by white men.
“I walk down the hallways of the B.C. supreme court, I look at the portraits, and none of them look like me, and that doesn’t make me feel like I belong in this profession, I don’t think [it] reinforces the idea for other people that they need to make sense for people from more diverse backgrounds.”
Vancouver-based Metis lawyer Kyla Lee on CityNews
Lee says the problems candidates for the top job see are compounded by a lack of diversity at all levels in the legal profession.
The first indigenous supreme court justice was only appointed as recently as 2022, with the first justice who is a person of colour appointed in 2019.
