This afternoon, I had the honour of attending the swearing-in ceremony of the first female lawyer from Red Deer to be named a judge in the Provincial Court of Alberta. I've worked with Monica Bast quite often over the six years that I've been a court reporter in Red Deer, and we both share a love of reading so we often "talk books" with each other and she's just one of those lawyers that I feel I've made a connection with and thus I was so excited to hear that she was named a judge. Mind you, it is now strange that a judge wants to see my wedding pictures...
The courtroom where the ceremony took place was packed, and it was a special moment when right before the ceremony started all of lawyers from the firm she was a partner in came in dressed in their robes and sat in the jury box. There were quite a few Provincial Court judges there, a justice from the Court of Queen's Bench, and many lawyers from Red Deer. A few of the judges gave speeches, some various bar association representatives gave speeches, and at the end Monica spoke. She's an only child and both of her parents have passed so she thanked all of her friends that made the effort to come, she thanked her assistant who has been with her for 19 years, ever since she became a lawyer, she thanked various other people, and at the end of her speech she told this great story. She spoke of how her grandfather had come from Yugoslavia to Canada in the 20s and but for different circumstances, he would have been a scholar. One day shortly after Monica had passed her bar exam and became a lawyer, her grandfather saw someone on the bus he knew, and she was gushing to him that her granddaughter had just married a lawyer. Monica's grandfather then replied, Well, my granddaughter IS a lawyer. I loved it.
After the ceremony there was a reception in the atrium of the courthouse with all sorts of appetizers and a lot of socializing and congratulations passed around. It was a very special afternoon and I'm so glad I was invited to attend.
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