Zealand, South Africa, and Northern Ireland. In 1988, Abella moderated the televised English-language leaders' debate between Brian Mulroney (PC), John Turner (Liberal) and Ed Broadbent (NDP). Abella has acted as chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Ontario Study into Access to Legal Services by the Disabled and the Ontario Law Reform Commission, and as a member of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and of the judicial inquiry into the Donald Marshall, Jr. case. From 1988 to 1992, she taught at McGill University Faculty of Law as the Boulton Visiting Professor. In 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed Abella to the Supreme Court of Canada. Abella became the first Jewish woman to sit on the court. She was eligible to serve on the Supreme Court until July 1, 2021, when she turned 75. In February 2021, she announced that she would retire on that date, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau started the selection process of a new justice who would succeed her. Mahmud Jamal was selected as her replacement, and assumed office on July 1, 2021. Following her retirement from the Supreme Court, Abella has served as a visiting professor at Fordham University School of Law and Harvard Law School. Abella is an authority on constitutional law and human rights law. Her opinions often cite foreign and international law. According to Sian Elias, they are regarded as authoritative by judges in many common law countries. Honours and personal life Abella has received at least 38 honorary degrees. She became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1997. She was awarded the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. She was elected a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007. In 2012 she was awarded the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In May 2016, she was awarded an honorary degree from Yale University, becoming the first Canadian woman to earn such an honour. In addition, she has been a judge of the Giller Prize. In January 2017, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law's Center for International Human Rights named her the Global Jurist of the Year for 2016 in recognition of her commitment to human rights and international criminal justice. In April 2018, Abella was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. Abella is the widow of historian Irving Abella, and has