Gloria Epstein
Gloria Jean Epstein is a former judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. She had also previously been appointed to the Court of Ontario. She is known for her 1999 trial ruling in M v H that Ontario's Family Law Act was unconstitutional for discriminating against same-sex couples by denying them the same benefits as legally-married heterosexual couples. Epstein's decision was appealed up to the Supreme Court of Canada and upheld. Early life and career Epstein graduated in 1972 from Queen's University, earning an Honours Bachelor of Commerce. Epstein is a graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, earning a Bachelor of Laws in 1977. She founded one of the first Toronto-based law firms that was owned by a woman. She often lectures on the role of female lawyers in Canadian law and her own experience in being raised to the bench while raising three children. Judicial career In 1999, Epstein, then serving on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, ruled in M v H that the definition of a spouse in the Ontario Family Law Act was unconstitutional because it discriminated against same-sex couples by not providing them the same benefits as legally married heterosexual couples.