Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada wear two different sets of robes. For everyday appeals and judgments, they wear plain black silk. For formal occasions, they wear a ceremonial robe that, as of October 2025, is black with red piping, white collars, and hand-embroidered detailing. That new ceremonial robe replaced the scarlet, fur-trimmed robes the court had worn for 150 years.1Supreme Court of Canada. Ceremonial Opening of the Judicial Year
What Justices Wear in Court
During hearings and when delivering judgments, the nine justices wear black silk robes. These have been the standard working attire for daily sittings for many years and were not affected by the 2025 redesign.2Provincial Court of British Columbia. Why Canadian Judges Wear Robes – Section: Supreme Court of Canada The understated design reflects a practical concern: comfort during proceedings that can run through full days of oral argument.
Lawyers appearing before the court also wear black, which gives the courtroom a shared professional appearance. The robes carry subtle markers of rank, but the overall impression reads as collaborative. Former justice Andromache Karakatsanis has contrasted the comfort of the black robes with the old ceremonial set, which she described as hot and heavy with multiple layers of fur.2Provincial Court of British Columbia. Why Canadian Judges Wear Robes – Section: Supreme Court of Canada
The New Ceremonial Robes
Chief Justice Richard Wagner announced that the Speech from the Throne on May 27, 2025 was the last time the justices would appear in the old scarlet robes. On October 7, 2025, at the court’s first ceremonial opening of the judicial year in 39 years, the justices wore the new ceremonial robes for the first time.1Supreme Court of Canada. Ceremonial Opening of the Judicial Year
The new robes are black with red trim, white collars, and black embroidered detailing. Wagner said the design preserves “the dignity and authority of the judicial role” while reflecting “a modern and simple design that echoes our commitment to openness and accessibility in a way that is distinctly Canadian.”3Supreme Court of Canada. Ceremonial Opening of the Judicial Year – Remarks From the Chief Justice The redesign also eliminates animal fur. Wagner framed the change in national terms, saying the court’s 150th anniversary was the right moment “to have new robes that better reflect Canadian identity” rather than attire rooted in British judicial customs.
The Scarlet Robes That Were Retired
For most of the court’s history, the ceremonial image of the Supreme Court was built around bright red robes trimmed with white fur. They were worn for formal occasions in the court, Senate, or Parliament, including the Speech from the Throne and the welcoming ceremony for newly appointed justices.4Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Court of Canada Pamphlet
The most recent version was commissioned in 1979 under Chief Justice Bora Laskin. Each robe used the pelts of dozens of ermines for the white fur. The court’s own materials described the fur as “Canadian white mink,” but animal welfare organizations documented that the pelts actually came from ermines raised at a fur farm near Kingston, Ontario.4Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Court of Canada Pamphlet The look mimicked the ermine trim long associated with British judicial and royal dress, including the dark accents that imitated the animal’s black tail tip. That resemblance to Westminster tradition was itself part of why the court chose to move on.
How the New Robes Are Made
The new ceremonial robes were produced by Les Rabat-Joies, a company in Saguenay, Quebec, that specializes in judicial attire. Each robe is individually crafted from fine silk imported from Korea, a material the manufacturer describes as requiring “exceptional skill and precision” to work with.5Les Rabat-Joies. The Art of Prestige – Les Rabat-Joies Serving the Supreme Court of Canada
Each robe takes over 40 hours to make. The signature feature is the hand embroidery: more than 2,500 individually stitched repetitions of the Cormier emblem, which intertwines the letters “C” and “S” with a laurel motif symbolizing justice. The emblem was originally created by Ernest Cormier, the architect of the Supreme Court building. Across all nine robes, the embroidery alone required close to 150 hours of work. Custom zinc-alloy buttons, cast with the same emblem and finished by hand at the Saguenay workshop, complete the robe. The manufacturer also crafted special handmade tabs for the court’s five women justices, embroidered and beaded with red stones, as a personal gift to mark the anniversary.5Les Rabat-Joies. The Art of Prestige – Les Rabat-Joies Serving the Supreme Court of Canada
Other Items That Have Disappeared
The scarlet robes were not the only piece of ceremonial attire to be phased out. Mid-20th-century photographs show justices wearing black tricorne hats as part of their formal dress, and a 1957 image shared on the court’s social media accounts confirms the hat was still standard at that time. The practice ended long ago. One of the original tricornes and a set of the retired scarlet robes are now on display in the Supreme Court building’s grand entrance hall as part of a 150th-anniversary exhibit.