Clara Brett Martin 

In 1891, Clara Brett Martin applied as a student to the Law Society but was rejected. The Society interpreted the use of  ‘persons’ in their statute to mean that only men were permitted. Women were not legally considered ‘persons’ in Canada until 1929. With the help of influential leaders such as Dr. Emily Stowe and Premier Oliver Mowat, Martin was finally admitted as a student-at-law in 1893. She faced obstacles again in being admitted as a barrister but succeeded in 1897. She became the first female lawyer in not just Canada, but in the British Empire. She practised law in Toronto and established her own firm on Bay Street in 1906. She helped pave the way for other women in the profession by hiring female articling students and with her involvement with women’s rights organizations.

Gretta Wong Grant

Gretta Wong Grant was the first Chinese-Canadian woman to practice law in Canada. When she was called to the bar in 1946, Chinese Canadians did not yet have the right to vote. During her studies at Osgoode Hall, Wong Grant articled with McCarthy and McCarthy – right across the street in the Canada Life Building. Throughout her career, Wong Grant worked to help others. She studied psychology after her law degree and became a staff psychologist at the Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women on King Street. There, she advocated for improvements to the women’s conditions and treatment. She also worked with juvenile delinquents and recently-returned soldiers. After her marriage in 1950 to Alan Grant, a white lawyer, Wong Grant took time off to raise her children. She returned to a law career in the late 1950s. In 1967, she began a new job at London’s first legal aid clinic. She worked in the legal aid field for over two decades, helping people who faced prejudice and discrimination in the legal system.

WATCH an interview with Gretta Wong Grant on her career.  

Delia Opekokew

Delia Opekokew was the second Indigenous woman to be called to the bar in Canada, and the first in both Ontario and Saskatchewan. A member of the Canoe Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, Opekokew graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1977. As a lawyer, she fought for justice for Indigenous people in Canada. One of her notable causes was advocating for recognition for Residential School Survivors. Opekokew attended a residential school herself and understood the damage the system caused. She took on cases that others wouldn’t, such as representing the family of Dudley George. George was an Ojibwa activist who was fatally shot during the Ipperwash Crisis, a 1995 land claim dispute over appropriated First Nations land. Other career achievements include a financial settlement for neglected First Nations veterans. A trailblazer for Indigenous women in law, she also used her position to defend and empower Indigenous peoples. 

WATCH an interview with Delia Opekokew from 2013, where she reflects on her career.

*Sources:

Constance Backhouse, “MARTIN, CLARA BRETT,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 15, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003.

Constance Backhouse, “Gretta Wong Grant: Canada’s First Chinese-Canadian Female Lawyer,” Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 1996.

Kelly Provost, “Indigenous lawyer from Sask. honoured by Law Society of Ontario,” CBC News, September 26, 2019.

“Law Society to honour trailblazing advocate Delia Opekokew with honorary doctorate,” Law Society of Ontario, September 19, 2019.