Rosalie Silberman Abella (born July 1, 1946) is a Canadian jurist. In 2004, Abella was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, becoming the first Jewish woman and refugee to sit on the Canadian Supreme Court bench. She retired from the federal bench in 2021. Early life and education Rosalie Silberman Abella was born on July 1, 1946, the daughter of Jacob and Fanny (Krongold) Silberman. She was born in a displaced persons camp in Stuttgart, Germany. Her father was born in Sienno, Poland, in 1910, while her mother was born in Ostrowiec in 1917. Abella's older sister was murdered in the Holocaust. Her parents both survived, Jacob Silberman was liberated from Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Fanny Silberman survived Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Jacob had studied law at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and was appointed head of legal services for displaced persons in the US Zone of Southwest Germany. In 1950, her family was admitted into Canada, though Jacob Silberman was not allowed to practise law because he was not a citizen. From a young age, Abella was determined to become a lawyer. She attended Oakwood Collegiate Institute and Bathurst Heights Secondary School in Toronto, Ontario. She then attended the University of Toronto, where she earned a B.A. in 1967 and an LL.B. in 1970. In 1964, Abella graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in classical piano. Career Abella was called to the Ontario bar in 1972. She practised civil and criminal litigation until 1976, when, at the age of 29, she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court (which is now part of the Ontario Court of Justice) by then–attorney general Roy McMurtry, becoming both the youngest and first pregnant judge in Canadian history. She was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1992. In 1983–1984, Abella served as the sole commissioner of the federal Royal Commission on Equality in Employment (known as the Abella commission), appointed by Lloyd Axworthy. As commissioner, she coined the term and concept of "employment equity", a strategy for reducing barriers in employment faced by women, visible minorities, people with disabilities, and Aboriginal peoples. The theories of equality and discrimination developed in the report were adopted in Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia (1989), the Supreme Court of Canada's first decision regarding equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Its recommendations report was also adopted by jurisdictions including New