Supreme Court of Canada Justice Sheilah Martin to retire in May after eight years at top court

Law360 Canada (January 13, 2026, 5:21 PM EST) -- Supreme Court of Canada Justice Sheilah Martin, a former University of Calgary law dean and one of the apex court’s criminal and constitutional law experts, will retire May 30, 2026, after working at the high court for more than eight years.

The 69-year-old bilingual judge, who grew up in Montreal and was educated in both civil and common law, spent her professional career as an academic, practicing criminal lawyer, and trial and appellate judge in Alberta.

She occupies one of the two spots on the nine-judge bench that are customarily filled by western jurists.

In his Jan. 13 announcement that Justice Martin would retire May 30, Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner noted that the judge is “widely respected for the depth of her legal scholarship, her commitment to fairness, and her principled approach to justice,” as well as for her “remarkable contributions to Canadian jurisprudence” and “her enthusiasm in supporting initiatives that promote openness, transparency and meaningful engagement with Canadians.”

As the west’s senior member on the court, with a demonstrated track record of accomplishments, Justice Martin would have been a leading candidate to succeed Quebec’s Richard Wagner as Chief Justice of Canada, had he chosen to retire before her (he is a year younger).

(The role of chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada typically alternates between the court’s three-judge contingent from Quebec and its six members from the rest of Canada.)

Although she was first appointed a judge in 2005, Justice Martin’s forthcoming departure from the top court before she reaches age 75 (mandatory retirement) took some by surprise.

“This is five years early, so I wasn't expecting it,” said University of Alberta constitutional and administrative law professor Gerard Kennedy.

In his view, Justice Martin can be described as a jurist with “a progressive view” of the law, who applies the “living tree” approach to interpreting Canada’s constitution and who has been a centrist on issues of federalism and division of powers.

“I view her as often writing with [fellow judges] Rosalie Abella and Andromache Karakatsanis on issues of administrative law, on issues of equality law [and] the Charter,” Kennedy said. “I think some of her most profound and enduring legacies will likely be in the areas of criminal law and criminal procedure,” he said, noting that the judge interprets robustly the Charter rights of accused.

Lawrence David, an Ottawa litigator and University of Ottawa part-time law professor, said Justice Martin “will be sorely missed” as he sees her as “one of the most qualified, intelligent, compassionate and rigorous justices in the history of the Supreme Court of Canada.”

David commented that Justice Martin's experience as the first judge in Canada to issue an order authorizing medical assistance in dying, following the top court's judgment in Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2016 SCC 4, “foreshadowed the humane and expert approach that would characterize her tenure” at the Supreme Court.

She has “demonstrated the rare ability to combine genuine concern for equality and dignity with spectacular intellectual rigour in several fields of law,” David remarked. “Justice Martin's illuminating jurisprudence has indelibly enhanced the court's jurisprudence, especially in criminal law and procedure, criminal evidence and constitutional law,” he elaborated. “Her recent judgment in Earthco is also a signal contribution to the court’s private law jurisprudence, here in the field of contracts,” he said, referencing Earthco Soil Mixtures Inc. v. Pine Valley Enterprises Inc., 2024 SCC 20.

David said Justice Martin concurred or dissented in only a small percentage of cases on which she sat, revealing, in his view, her collegiality and consensus-building approach.

“Owing to her exceptional ongoing contributions to the court, and to the dearth of bilingual and fully qualified western judicial candidates, the prime minister will have significant difficulty in identifying judge of her calibre to fill the seat she leaves vacant,” David predicted.

Kennedy said the Liberal government will likely stick to the requirement that Supreme Court judges must be functionally bilingual. (2023 amendments to the federal Official Languages Act (Bill C-13) require Supreme Court of Canada judges to understand English and French without the assistance of an interpreter.)

He suggested some names of bilingual western jurists, who could be seen as potential successors to Justice Martin, include: Glenn Joyal, the chief justice of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba; B.C. Court of Appeal judge Peter Edelmann; Alberta Court of Appeal Justice April Grosse; Saskatchewan Court of Appeal justice Naheed Bardai; and Federal Court of Appeal Justice Gerald Heckman, a former law professor at the University of Manitoba.

In the retirement announcement, Justice Martin said she is “deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served Canadians on our nation’s apex court.”

“I am forever thankful for the precious opportunity it provided to better understand the richness and diversity of the people in our country and the laws and institutions that allow us to live together with respect, dignity and equality,” Justice Martin said. “I have taken seriously the need for a strong and independent judiciary to address issues of national importance, safeguard the Constitution and promote the rule of law. Over the years, I was always happy to take part in the court’s many outreach initiatives and to participate in a broad array of educational endeavours.”

Photos of Justices Sheilah Martin and Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner: SCC Collection

If you have any information, story ideas or news tips for Law360 Canada, please contact Cristin Schmitz at cristin.schmitz@lexisnexis.ca or call 613-820-2794.