Shergill and Iyer – Not one but two Indian origin women appointed in Canada SC

Indian origin sikh lawyer, Palbinder Kaur Shergill has been appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in New Westminster while Nitya Iyer has been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver..Justice Shergill replaces Madam Justice E.A. Arnold-Bailey, who retired effective May 31, 2017, and Justice Iyer replaces Mr. Justice K. Bracken (Victoria), who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective March 30, 2017, reported Department of Justice..Prior to her appointment to the bench, Justice Shergill practised as a lawyer and mediator with her law firm, Shergill & Company, Trial Lawyers. She has extensive trial and appellate experience and has appeared before courts and tribunals across Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada..Justice Shergill was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1991 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2012. Regarded as a leading human rights advocate, she has been instrumental in helping shape human rights and religious accommodation law in Canada through her pro bono work as General Legal Counsel for the World Sikh Organization of Canada..Justice Shergill was born in Punjab, India, and immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of four. She received her law degree from the University of Saskatchewan..Justice Nitya Iyer started her legal career as a law professor, teaching constitutional law, administrative law, and family law at the University of Toronto and then at the University of British Columbia. She left teaching to become a member of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal and went on to private practice, most recently with Lovett Westmacott..Soon after she was born in Mumbai, India, Justice Iyer’s family immigrated to Canada. After law school, she clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada and an LL.M from Harvard Law School. .According to the Canadian Bar Association website, Justice Nitya Iyer worked on complex, significant issues of constitutional and administrative law, human rights and information and privacy topics that are relevant and important to ensure access to justice in a diverse society. Since 2011, she has been a partner at Lovett Westmacott in Vancouver. She became a Queen’s Counsel in 2016..Image Credit: Shergill & Co, DesiBuzz