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June 24, 2005
Siblings run on same career track
Sisters "in law" a Canadian judicial first - and a source
of great pride for Vancouver's Jewish community.
PAT JOHNSON
Michael Jacobsen, who was then 19 years old, was working at B.C.
Place Stadium setting up a trade show display for his employer,
Nike Canada. To cheer the workers, who were laboring through a long
shift, the manager brought some beer to the work site and offered
it to the employees. Jacobsen had some, then after work, went to
a bar for some more. That night, while driving home to Port Moody,
Jacobsen drove off the road.
Jacobsen was left quadriplegic. He sued Nike Canada for damages.
The judge, on one of her first cases, set a precedent that changed
the way employers look at drinking on company time - even at company
social functions. Every year now, around Christmas, the newspapers
recall the case as a cautionary tale for bosses who offer their
employees liquor.
The judge was Justice Risa Levine. At the time a judge on the Supreme
Court of British Columbia, Levine has since been
elevated to the B.C. Court of Appeal.
She reflected on the case as an example of how a judge can educate
the public and make positive change in the world.
"I found Nike Canada 75 per cent liable for his injuries and
I found that he was 25 per cent liable, because he was 19, he was
of age, he had responsibility for his own behavior," said Levine.
"It was at the time, and even since, kind of a high-water mark
in terms of the liability of an employer for damages where an employee
had been drinking. I think it's had a big effect on the way employers
manage social events for their employees.... I think maybe I've
contributed to perhaps saving some people from some injuries. I
think people are more careful and I think that's good."
That was one of Levine's first cases, close to a decade ago, but
it remains one of her most notable. Now she has gained a different
kind of notoriety. On April 15, when her sister was appointed to
the B.C. Supreme Court, they became, to their knowledge, the only
biological sisters who are federally appointed judges in this country.
Miriam Gropper's appointment to the bench makes a splash not only
because the two judges are sisters but, as members of B.C.'s small
Jewish community, it provides this community with particular naches
(pride).
"It's an awesome responsibility," said Gropper. "It's
also very exciting."
The road to the bench was happenstance, as much as good management,
the sisters say.
Growing up in Saskatoon in the 1960s, the two sisters experienced
a different reaction to that decade of change. Gropper, the younger
sister, was right there for the women's liberation movement. Levine,
a bit older, started out with a more traditional approach.
"I got my undergraduate and master's degree around 1970 and
the women's movement was starting at that time," said Levine.
"I married very young and had two children right off the bat.
I modelled myself after my mother [Zora], who was a homemaker and
a very active community volunteer. With the advent of the women's
movement, and I guess growing up a little bit, after I'd had my
children and started thinking about where my skills were and what
I could do, I decided that I was going to want to have a career.
I really hadn't been career-oriented but I was influenced by what
was going on around me and, I think, by a realization about what
would satisfy me personally. It was kind of a process of elimination
to get to law, but I think I chose the right path. I really wasn't
idealistic about it at the time. I don't think I thought through
where it would take me."
Her sister's path was different.
"I think I was influenced by Risa," said Gropper. "I
went to law school after [her], but for different reasons. When
I went to law school, it was with a desire to effect some change
- it was very idealistic. I was very active in the women's movement
and I thought it was a place where women should be."
The other two siblings are no slouches, either. Brother Mitchell
Gropper also went into law and practises in Vancouver. He is also
well-known as a leader in the Jewish community. Brother Peter Gropper
is an orthopedic surgeon.
Their late father, Nathan, was a dentist. Both parents were Saskatchewan-born,
making them a veritable Prairie pioneer family.
For the two judges, sitting on the bench means a severe limit to
their community involvement, but Levine was previously involved
with the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and before that
was on the board of Vancouver Talmud Torah. Gropper has served on
Temple Sholom's board of trustees.
Gropper's career path followed Levine's and still does, though Gropper
said she never imagined herself following her sister to the bench.
"I always maintained that I never wanted to become a judge,"
said Gropper. But that attitude altered after her sister was appointed.
"Her being a judge was a great influence on my wanting to become
a judge."
Sibling rivalry? No, said Gropper, struggling to find words to describe
her change of heart. Then Levine interjected.
"I think she saw that I was having such a good time,"
Levine said.
Fun might seem like an overstatement. Levine acknowledges it can
be tough holding people's future in your hands. Many times, the
choices facing a judge are unpalatable on all sides. Family law
forces judges to decide the best interests of adults and children,
often when the resources simply do not exist to support two separate
households. Criminal law puts the onus on the judge to decide on
the very basic freedom of a person.
"The decisions we have to make are the most important things
in people's lives," said Levine. "People come to court
who have been injured in some way and are looking for [the] financial
support they need to lead a decent life, to have care in their homes,
to have a home that accommodates their disability or their special
need."
Though tough cases can make it hard to sleep at night, Levine said
a judge needs to keep emotional impacts limited.
"You have to learn as a judge to put the case behind you, because
the next day, there's another one and the next day there's another
one after that," Levine said. "You have to learn that
you cannot really change people's lives in all the ways that maybe
they would like them to change or the way you think they should
be changed."
If it's lonely up there, at least Levine now has a close confidant
with whom she can share the experience. This sister act is a first
on the Canadian bench, but the veteran doesn't have much advice
for her newly appointed sister. Levine doesn't think Gropper needs
much assistance, except maybe to find the washrooms in architect
Arthur Erickson's notoriously labyrinthine Law Courts building.
Mostly, Levine shares with her sister an awe of the entire process.
"I just find it really humbling to be asked to make those decisions
and to realize that our courts are respected by people who come
to us to resolve their disputes," she said.
Pat Johnson is a B.C. journalist and commentator.
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