Rowe humbly accepts his place on Canada’s Supreme Court
OTTAWA— When he wants to be, Malcolm Rowe is a man of few words, Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin observed Friday as the Newfoundlander was officially welcomed to round out the high court’s nine-person bench.
The newest judge to sit on the country’s top court, and the first to be appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau under a new vetting process, Rowe held true to that perception in a short,10-minute speech that was contemplative and personal.
As family, friends and past national and provincial leaders listened, Rowe described what he saw as some of his greatest achievements.
They weren’t the sort of lofty accomplishments one might expect by reading his resume; Rowe sat on the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal for 16 years, studied at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall Law School and later went on to work in the foreign service, was part of a team that handled an overfishing dispute on the Grand Banks and lectured in constitutional law.
Rather, he talked about sailing, travelling and listening.
Former Liberal premier Brian Tobin, under whom Rowe served as secretary to the cabinet, listened intently as his former counsel spoke fervently about a 2015 excursion circumnavigating his home province in a small boat with his friend Jim, and about meeting with Canadians from all walks of life as a mentor to the Action Canada Fellows.
The 63-year-old former trial judge recalled hearing stories of hardship suffered by many of Canada’s indigenous people, and the hard life of homeless drug addicts living on Vancouver’s East Side.
“I listened, I learned, I came to understand Canada better,” said Rowe.
He also spoke passionately about his family, lamenting only that his new job would mean he could no longer pop into a friend’s house for tea in his hometown.
But ultimately, Rowe said, it was the entirety of his experiences and help from his family that brought him to sit on the highest court in the land.
“Fortune has smiled upon me with beaming countenance,” Rowe said, in describing how his wife Marty was in the process of transplanting them into their new home in Ottawa.
“In truth, home will be wherever we two are,” Rowe said as though attempting to calm his own angst.
“And where we two are, will be a happy home.”