Doctor of Laws - honoris causa
the Honourable Marie Deschamps
The Honourable Marie Deschamps received a Licentiate in Laws from the Université de Montréal in 1974 and an LL.M. from McGill University in 1983. She has been an adjunct professor at the law schools of University of Sherbrooke since 2006 and of McGill University since 2012.
The Université de Montréal and the Université de Sherbrooke each awarded her an honorary doctorate, respectively in 2008 and 2014; she received from the Law School of McGill University the F. R. Scott award for distinguished service in 2013. She was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada in 2013 and received the distinction Lawyer Emeritus from the Quebec Bar in 2014.
She was called to the Quebec Bar in 1975 and practised as a litigator at Martineau Walker and Sylvestre et Matte in family, civil and commercial law, then at Rouleau, Rumanek and Sirois in criminal law and finally at Byers Casgrain in civil and commercial law. She was appointed judge to the Quebec Superior Court in 1990, to the Quebec Court of Appeal in 1992 and to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2002. She retired from the judiciary in August 2012 and rejoined the Quebec Bar in 2013.
In 2014, she was appointed to conduct the Independent Review of the Canadian Armed Forces Policies on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Harassment. In 2015, she was named Chair of the United Nations Review Committee on the Response to Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Militaries not under UN Command in Central Africa. In 2016, she served as Member of the Review Committee on Quebec Provincial Judges Remuneration. In 2017, she was appointed Chair of the Council of Canadian Academies Independent Assessment on Medical Aid to Die. In 2018, she was designated as Assessor in the LGBT Purge Class Action Settlement. In 2019, she was appointed member of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency.
She served as member of the Boards of Directors of Educaloi from 2013 to 2019 and of Energir from 2014 to 2019, and acts as Trustee of Pro Bono Canada since 2013.