attacking L'Heureux-Dubé, describing her writing as overly personal and blaming her attitude for the rise in the suicide rate of Quebec men. The letter was controversial, and drew even more furor when it was pointed out that L'Heureux-Dubé's husband had committed suicide in 1978. A few months after the debate, L'Heureux-Dubé heard McClung had fallen ill, and wrote him a supportive letter, for which he thanked her and which she considered to be the end of the debate. Later in 1999, L'Heureux-Dubé wrote the majority decision in Baker v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), holding that international law, even when its provisions were unincorporated into Canadian law, could still be a source from which judges could find the values and principles behind Canadian legislation. L'Heureux-Dubé followed the decision in Baker with her majority decision in the 2001 case of Hudson v Spraytech & ChemLawn, holding that the precautionary principle should be seen as part of international customary law. She then ruled that the municipal government of Hudson, Quebec, was justified in banning Spraytech's pesticides and was not acting ultra vires the "general welfare" powers delegated to it by the Quebec provincial government. At the time of her retirement on July 1, 2002, L'Heureux-Dubé was the most senior judge on the court in terms of time served. During her tenure on the court, she was regarded as perhaps its most controversial member, and as someone who usually only slept four hours a day so she could focus on her work. Critics labelled her a feminist, equal-rights ideologue because of her support for the battered woman defense, tax deductions for mothers in the workforce, expansive provisions for spousal support, and the protection of sexual-assault complainants' privacy. During her time on the court, she was a proponent of equality rights of women, immigrants, LGBT people, and other minority groups. L'Heureux-Dubé heard more than 1200 Supreme Court cases, wrote 254 judgments, dissenting from the majority in about 40 percent of them, which earned her the label of the "great dissenter". Post-Supreme Court activities Shortly after L'Heureux-Dubé's July 2002 retirement from the Supreme Court at the age of 74, she took a Judge in Residence position with Université Laval University in Quebec City. L'Heureux-Dubé also served as the president of La Maison de justice de Québec, a pilot project to improve access to justice in Quebec City which operated from 2004 until its 2006