MIL OSI Translation. Canadian French to English –
Source: Government of Canada – in French
August 29, 2024– Ottawa (Ontario) – Department of Justice Canada
The Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointments under the judicial application process established in 2016. This process emphasizes transparency, merit and the diversity of the Canadian population, and will result in the appointment of jurists who meet the highest standards of excellence and integrity.
The Honourable Sheri Ann Donegan, a Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, is appointed a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia in Vancouver. Justice Donegan replaces Justice JLL Hunter, who resigned effective February 11, 2024.
The Honourable W. Paul Riley, a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, is appointed a judge of appeal of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia in Vancouver. Justice Riley replaces Justice GJ Fitch, who resigned effective April 30, 2024.
The Honourable Andrea L. Ormiston, a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia in Chilliwack, is appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Abbotsford. Justice Ormiston replaces Justice RW Jenkins (Abbotsford), who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective January 1, 2022.
The Honourable Tina L. Dion, a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia in Surrey, is appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in New Westminster. Justice Dion replaces Justice FE Verhoeven (New Westminster), who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective January 22, 2024.
David M. Layton, QC, Deputy Director, Criminal Appeals, British Columbia Prosecution Service, Ministry of the Attorney General of British Columbia in Vancouver, is appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Port Coquitlam. Justice Layton fills the remaining position authorized under the Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1.
Eric V. Gottardi, QC, a senior partner at Peck and Company in Vancouver, is appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in New Westminster. Justice Gottardi replaces Justice WP Riley (New Westminster) who was appointed to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia effective August 28, 2024.
Quote
“I wish Justices Donegan, Riley, Ormiston, Dion, Layton and Gottardi every success in their new roles. I am confident that they will serve the people of British Columbia well as members of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of British Columbia.”
— The Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Biographies
Justice Sherri Ann Donegan was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2013. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1989 and a Bachelor of Laws with distinction in 1992. She was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1993.
Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2013, Justice Donegan served as a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia from 2010 to 2013. She was a Crown prosecutor with the Attorney General of British Columbia in Kamloops and New Westminster from 1998 to 2010. She also practised law with the firm of Mair Jensen Blair in Kamloops from 1992 to 1998. She is a frequent speaker on child protection issues.
Justice W. Paul Riley was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2017. He received a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University in 1995. He was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1996.
Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2017, Justice Riley was a Crown prosecutor with what is now the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) since 1997. In 2007, he led the appeals group in the British Columbia Regional Office. He has conducted hundreds of appeals before the British Columbia Court of Appeal and has appeared more than a dozen times as lead counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada in cases involving significant issues of criminal and constitutional law. Justice Riley was appointed King’s Counsel in 2014.
Justice Riley has served on numerous committees, including the PPSC National Litigation Committee and the Criminal Appeals Advisory Committee of the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Justice Andrea L. Ormiston received her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto in 1997, her master’s degree in English literature from Queen’s University in 1998, and her law degree from the University of Ottawa in 2002. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2003 and to the British Columbia Bar in 2005.
Justice Ormiston was appointed a Provincial Court Judge of British Columbia in 2017. She began her legal career in Barrie, Ontario, but found roots and fulfillment in the practice of criminal law in the Fraser Valley, where she worked as a legal advisor and volunteered on criminal law education and community projects. She served as a Crown prosecutor in both Ontario and British Columbia, specializing in criminal law. From September 2003 to March 2004, she articled at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, the Native Law Centre of Canada, and the University of Vienna, where she focused on the international rights of Indigenous peoples. She volunteered with the Chilliwack Public Safety Committee.
Justice Tina L. Dion is a member of the Kehewin Cree Nation in Alberta. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta in 1994, her Bachelor of Laws from the University of British Columbia in 1997, and her Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Arizona in 2008. She was the first Canadian law clerk to the Navajo Nation Supreme Court in Window Rock, Arizona (1998). She was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1999 and to the Alberta Bar in 2014.
Justice Dion was appointed to the Provincial Court of British Columbia in 2019. She regularly served as one of two judges of the First Nations Court in New Westminster. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she practiced in private practice in the areas of civil litigation, administrative law, environmental law, regulatory law and Aboriginal law since 2013. She articled and worked at the criminal law firm, Orris Burns, before joining Blake, Cassels
Justice Dion has been an active member of the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, including serving as a member of the Executive Committee and as Co-Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Working Group. She has chaired and presented at the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia (CLEBC) conferences. She was appointed King’s Counsel in 2016.
Judge Dion loves to travel and spend time with friends and family.
Justice David M. Layton, QC, is a native of Truro, Nova Scotia. He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1984 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1987 from Dalhousie University, and a Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford University in 1989. He was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2002.
Justice Layton clerked for Chief Justice Brian Dickson at the Supreme Court of Canada in 1990 before joining the litigation department of what is now Torys LLP. He began practising criminal law in 1994 in Toronto with Marko Rose Layton and Shiller Layton Arbuck, and in 2001 in Vancouver with Gibbons Fowler and Richie Sandford. In 2014, Justice Layton joined the Criminal Appeals Section of the British Columbia Prosecution Service. In 2020, he became a manager there as Deputy Director. He was appointed King’s Counsel in 2016.
Justice Layton is co-author, with the late Justice Michel Proulx of the Quebec Court of Appeal, of Ethics and Criminal Law, the second edition of which was published in 2015. He also contributed to the 5th edition of McWilliams’ Canadian Criminal Evidence. He has published numerous articles in law journals and has participated in numerous conferences and continuing legal education sessions. He has also taught courses on wrongful convictions, criminal law and ethics at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. From 2012 to 2022, he ruled on disciplinary matters involving lawyers as a member of the Law Society of British Columbia Tribunal.
Justice Eric V. Gottardi, QC, received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1997 and a Bachelor of Laws from Queen’s University in 2002. He was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2003.
Justice Gottardi spent the majority of his career practising law at Peck and Company, becoming a senior partner in 2010. An experienced trial and appellate lawyer, he practised primarily in the areas of criminal defence, constitutional law and extradition law. He worked as a prosecutor on special prosecutions in British Columbia and Ontario. He appeared frequently before the British Columbia Court of Appeal and represented parties and interveners before the Supreme Court of Canada. After graduating from Queen’s University Law School, he clerked for judges of the Ontario Court of Appeal. In 2019, he was appointed a member of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He was appointed King’s Counsel in 2020.
Justice Gottardi is a past Chair of the National Criminal Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and was the founding Co-Chair of the CBA’s Annual National Criminal Law Conference. In 2013, he was awarded the CBA British Columbia Branch President’s Medal for his long-standing service to the profession. He organized and was a faculty member of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s National Criminal Law Seminar. He was a faculty member of the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute and editor of the Canadian Charter of Rights Newsletter. Justice Gottardi is the author of a legal text on expert evidence, “Qualifying and Challenging Expert Evidence,” published by Emond Publishing. He has regularly lectured at continuing legal education seminars and has been a frequent guest as a legal commentator by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other news outlets.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
