Media Release Backgrounder
Hon. Ruth Krindle
The Honorable Ruth Krindle - whose distinguished career and commitment to breaking down barriers have made her a role model - comes from a modest background. She was born and raised in Winnipeg, educated in Winnipeg's North End and graduated from West Kildonan Collegiate. She was a student at United College for her first years of university education, fondly remembering United College as "friendly and collegial."
In search of a challenging career, she soon discovered that as a woman, her options were limited.
"There were only three occupations that were deemed suitable for women: teaching, social work and nursing."
Not envisioning herself in any of these professions, she took time off to consider her options and found work as a secretary in a law firm. It was a turning point for her when her boss suggested that she consider studying law.
Krindle was accepted into the University of Manitoba's Law school in 1963, one of only six women that year to enter the program and one of four to graduate in 1967. Women lawyers were scarce in the early 1970s. Krindle was one of only 35 women qualified to practice Law in Manitoba, compared to some 1,600 men.
After putting in many applications to work as a criminal prosecutor with the Attorney General's Department, Krindle recounts, "I was finally offered a position indexing the provincial statutes, which I refused." Indexing was not in line with her courtroom aspirations. Instead, she returned "to the only law firm that would hire me" to do labor law. She remains grateful to that firm for their forward thinking.
In 1970, the provincial government brought in the new Human Rights Act and the Attorney General soon discovered there were no women working as Crown Attorneys. This time the Attorney General's department called Krindle. With almost no women in the courtroom, things were bound to change quickly, yet, as Krindle states, "the world did not fall apart at the seams. Everything was OK with us there."
She was so successful that just a few years after graduating from law school, in 1971, she was appointed a prosecutor by the Province of Manitoba. In that role, she appeared in all levels of court within Manitoba and before the Supreme Court of Canada.
In 1976, she was appointed Chair of the Manitoba Labor Board. In 1977, she returned to private practice, largely chairing private labor arbitration tribunals. In 1980, she was appointed Judge of the County Court of Winnipeg and in 1984, a judge of the general division of the Court of Queen's Bench.
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