January 7, 2000, is a great day for all Canadian women – and men – to recall!  It was, of course, on this date in 2000 that Beverley McLachlin became Canada’s very first female Chief Justice.  She served a total of 17 years in this vital post, in the process also becoming the longest-serving Chief Justice in Canadian history.Born in Pincher Creek, Alberta, and raised on a farm, Ms. McLachlin won the gold medal as top law student while studying at the University of Alberta.  She went on to practice law in Alberta and B.C., eventually rising to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia before being appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1989.In 2000, Prime Minister Chretien selected Justice McLachlin to be Chief Justice, succeeding the retiring Antonio Lamer.  Chief Justice McLachlin retired in late 2017, after having served 28 years on Canada's Supreme Court.  Breaking new ground even in her 'retirement', several months later, she was appointed to serve a three-year term as a non-permanent member of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal, becoming the first Canadian to sit as a non-permanent member of that court.For me, I have fond memories of the day, a few years back, ahead of the bicentennial of the birth of Kingston’s Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s Father of Confederation, that then Chief Justice McLachlin jointly led, with yours truly, a Macdonald-themed walking tour of historic downtown Kingston for students.  It was a wonderful day to celebrate Canada’s rich history and to have the Chief Justice of Canada herself in town to celebrate Sir John A. was indeed a big event.Happy anniversary Ms. McLachlin![caption id="attachment_532133" align="alignnone" width="650"] A[/caption]Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.