Author Joseph Boyden has been named Canada’s newest appointment to the country’s top court.
Boyden, the acclaimed author of best-selling novels Three Day Road, Through Black Spruce and The Orenda, will replace Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, who retires on Dec. 15.
Despite the fact that Boyden has never even been a lawyer, let alone a judge, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been under increasing pressure to name an Indigenous person to the Supreme Court.
“I think we can all agree, this is certainly a happy in-between,” an elated Trudeau told reporters.
However, the decision is not without controversy.
Boyden came under fire earlier this year for alleged inaccuracies in his long-awaited autobiography, The Reason I Walk, which chronicles his life as a charismatic First Nations broadcaster, musician and activist.