The Honourable Justice Thomas A. Cromwell
Appointed To The Supreme Court of Canada

The Honourable Justice Thomas A. Cromwell of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has been appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement Monday, December 22, 2008. In a written statement provided to the media Justice Cromwell said:

“This appointment is a very great honour, but it brings with it a humbling public responsibility and a considerable professional challenge.
I am reminded of a passage read at my law school graduation which has always stayed with me: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be expected and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
I will do my best to meet the high expectations that Canadians have for the members of their Supreme Court.”

"Cette nomination constitue un très grand honneur. Il s’agit aussi d’un grand défi sur le plan professionnel et d’une immense responsabilité à l’égard du public qui incite à la modestie.
Je me souviens de ce qui avait été lu à ma graduation de la faculté de droit: “On demandera beaucoup à qui l’on a beaucoup donné et on exigera davantage de celui à qui l’on a beaucoup confié.
Je ferai de nom mieux pour satisfaire les grandes attentes des Canadiens et des Canadiennes envers les membre de leur Cour suprême."

Justice Cromwell will fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the resignation, in June 2008, of the Honourable Justice Michel Bastarache.

 

THE HONOURABLE THOMAS A. CROMWELL
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA

Born in 1952 in Kingston Ontario, Justice Cromwell was educated at Queen's and received his law degree there in 1976.  He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1979 and to the Nova ScotiaBar in 1984.

He was a partner in the law firm of O'Hara, Cromwell and Wilkin from 1979 to 1982.  He worked as an arbitrator and adjudicator under the Trade Union Act, the Civil Service Collective Bargaining Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Education Act, and the Canada Labour Code between 1984 and 1992.  He was Vice-Chair of the Labour Relations Board and Construction Industry Panel of Nova Scotia in 1991-92.

Justice Cromwell moved to Ottawa in 1992 to become the Executive Legal Officer of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada at the time, Chief Justice Antonio Lamer. He left that position in 1995 and went to work as a Litigation Associate with Weir and Foulds until 1997.

Throughout his legal career, Justice Cromwell has also taught law at both Queen's University and the Dalhousie University Law School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At Queen's he was a special lecturer in civil procedure from 1980 to 1982.  At Dalhousie, from 1982 to 1992, he was Associate Professor and from 1995 to 1997 a Professor of Law.

Justice Cromwell was appointed to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1997.