Selwyn Romilly

Selwyn Romilly (1939/1940 – 22 September 2023) was a Canadian judge. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in November 1995, becoming the first black judge named to that court.

The Honourable
Selwyn Romilly
Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia
In office
November 1995 – 2015
Justice of the Provincial Court of British Columbia
In office
November 15, 1974 – 1978
Personal details
Born1939/1940
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Died (aged 83)
NationalityCanadian
Children2
EducationUniversity of British Columbia, (B.A.)
Peter A. Allard School of Law, (LLB)[1]
ProfessionLawyer

Early life

Romilly was born in 1939 or 1940,[2] in Trinidad and Tobago.[3] He attended the Queen's Royal College in Port-of-Spain and shortly thereafter immigrated to Canada.[1]

Education

Romilly received a Bachelor of Arts from University of British Columbia (UBC) and entered law school in 1963, earning his LLB from the Peter A. Allard School of Law in 1966.[3] At the time, Romilly was only the fourth Black student to have entered law at UBC.[3]

Law career

Following his education, Romilly practised as a lawyer from 1967 until 1974.[1] He first worked in Kamloops, and then Prince Rupert. He eventually relocated to Smithers.[3]

In 1972, Romilly was offered a seat on the bench of the provincial court of the province by Deputy Attorney General Dave Vickers but turned the offer down. Romilly was offered the position again[3] and was then appointed a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia,[4] effective 15 November 1974.[5] He served until 1978.[1] He was the first Black person to be appointed a judge at this level of court.[1]

In November 1995, Romilly was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia,[4][6] becoming the first Black judge named to that court.[2] He retired from the Supreme Court in 2015.[7]

In August 2003, Romilly ordered the extradition of former SS guard Michael Seifert from Canada to Italy for a conviction of war crimes taking part at Bolzano Transit Camp during World War II.[8]

Racial profiling incident

On 14 May 2021, Romilly was wrongfully detained by officers of the Vancouver Police Department while out on a morning walk.[2] The officers were looking for a "dark-skinned" suspect in his 40s or 50s.[2]

Following the incident, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart apologized to Romilly, condemning systemic racism present in the police force.[9]

Romilly, speaking with Global News, said:

I thought things had changed and they haven’t... I hate to say racial profiling, but I can’t help but think if it was an 81-year-old white man, regardless of the description, they wouldn’t have put him in handcuffs for ‘officer safety'.[10]

Personal life and death

Romilly moved to Smithers, British Columbia, where he married his wife Lorna. They had two children.[1]

Selwyn Romilly died on 22 September 2023, at the age of 83.[11]

Awards and honours
  • 1996 – Congress of Black Women of Canada, for public service[1]
  • 1997 – Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, award[1]
  • 2008 – Black Law Students Association of Canada, distinguished public service award[1]

References
  1. "Selwyn Romilly – BC Black History Awareness Society". bcblackhistory.ca. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  2. Lindsay, Bethany (May 15, 2021). "Vancouver police apologize for wrongly handcuffing and detaining retired Black judge". CBC News. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  3. "The Honourable Selwyn Romilly | historyproject.law.ubc.ca". historyproject.allard.ubc.ca. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  4. Little, Simon (May 14, 2021). "Vancouver police mistakenly handcuff retired B.C. Supreme Court judge". Global News. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  5. "Selywn Romilly honoured". The Interior News. October 16, 1974. p. 1. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  6. Parry, Malcolm (November 30, 1995). "Trinidad-born man's rise to the B.C. Supreme Court 'big day for B.C.'". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  7. "Members of the Supreme Court". Supreme Court of British Columbia. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  8. "Ex-Nazi to Be Extradited to Italy, Canadian Judge Rules". Orlando Sentinel. August 28, 2003. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  9. Holliday, Ian (May 15, 2021). "Vancouver police, mayor apologize for handcuffing of B.C.'s first Black Supreme Court justice". British Columbia. Archived from the original on May 15, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  10. "Vancouver mayor apologizes to retired Black B.C. judge wrongly handcuffed by police". Global News. Archived from the original on May 16, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  11. "B.C.'s first Black judge, Selwyn Romilly, remembered as 'kind, gentle soul' after death at 83". Global News. September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
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