Government of Canada announces judicial appointments in the province of Quebec
OTTAWA, Dec. 11, 2018 /CNW/ - The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointments under the new judicial application process introduced on October 20, 2016. The new process emphasizes transparency, merit, and diversity, and will continue to ensure the appointment of jurists who meet the highest standards of excellence and integrity.
Guylaine Duplessis, a partner at Duplessis Robillard Avocats, is appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal. She replaces Justice M. Stober, who passed away on August 24, 2018.
Lyne Décarie, general counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, is appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal. She replaces Justice S.W. Hamilton, who was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Quebec on August 29, 2018.
Biographies
Justice Guylaine Duplessis earned a Bachelor of Laws from the Université de Sherbrooke in 1981 and was called to the Barreau du Québec in 1982. Upon her appointment to the bench, she was a partner with the firm of Duplessis Robillard Avocats in Montreal, where she practiced primarily in the areas of family law and human rights law. In the course of her practice, she frequently appeared before the Superior Court of Quebec and the Quebec Court of Appeal.
In addition, until her appointment, Justice Duplessis taught family law, civil evidence and civil representation at the École du Barreau du Québec. Throughout her career, she also lectured extensively on family law topics.
Justice Duplessis was also active in the Barreau de Montréal, serving on numerous committees. In particular, she chaired the Barreau's Superior Court Family Issues Liaison Committee. In order to improve access to justice for all citizens, she joined the Barreau's committees on reducing legal costs and on the Lawyer's Guide to Limited Scope Representation. A member of the Canadian Bar Association, she was an executive member of the Family Law Section, Quebec Division, for two years.
At the time of her appointment, Justice Duplessis was a member of the Barreau du Québec's Arbitration Council on lawyer's accounts. She also served as an ad hoc syndic for the Barreau du Québec.
Justice Lyne Décarie has been a member of the Barreau du Québec since 1990. She received a B.A. in political science from the Université de Montréal (1986) and a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Ottawa (1989). She began her career with the Office of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions of Quebec, in Montreal, where she joined the team focused on crimes against the person, with an emphasis on sexual assault cases. She was also responsible for prosecutions in Nunavik and Nunavut.
In 2000, Justice Décarie joined the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, where she practised in the areas of organized crime and narcotics. In 2003, she served as a prosecutor for the Serious Crimes Unit in Timor-Leste, a United Nations joint tribunal created to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity. In 2005, she joined the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where she handled war crimes cases.
Returning to work for the federal Crown in 2007, she focused primarily on matters of national security. After her appointment as Deputy Chief Federal Prosecutor for the Quebec Regional Office and serving as Acting Chief Federal Prosecutor for the Atlantic Region, she was appointed general counsel in 2011. As a specialist in national security, Justice Décarie coordinated federal terrorism cases in Quebec. She also delivered training and presentations to many organizations in Canada and abroad. In 2013, she received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work as a prosecutor within Canada and overseas.
Quick Facts
- Since taking office, the Minister of Justice has made over 240 judicial appointments, including over 100 in 2018 ? the most a Minister of Justice has made in one year in at least two decades. Of the individuals appointed, over half are women, eight are Indigenous, 20 identify as visible minorities, 13 identify as LGBTQ2, and three identify as persons with disabilities.
- The Government of Canada is committed to promoting access to justice for all Canadians. To improve outcomes for Canadian families, Budget 2018 will provide funding of $77.2 million over four years to support the expansion of unified family courts, beginning in 2019-2020. This investment in the family justice system will create 39 new judicial positions in Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
- In addition, Budget 2018 provided funding for a further seven judicial positions in Saskatchewan and Ontario, at a cost of $17.1 million over five years.
- The funding outlined in Budget 2018 comes on top of resources allocated under Budget 2017, which created 28 new judicial positions across the country.
- In addition, the Government will invest $6 million over two years, beginning in 2018-2019, to support the judicial discipline process through which allegations of judicial misconduct are investigated. In this way, the Government will ensure that a robust process remains in place to allow Canadians to voice their concerns and submit complaints about judicial conduct to the Canadian Judicial Council and the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs.
- Federal judicial appointments are made by the Governor General, acting on the advice of the federal Cabinet and recommendations from the Minister of Justice.
- The Judicial Advisory Committees across Canada play a key role in evaluating judicial applications. There are 17 Judicial Advisory Committees, with each province and territory represented.
- Significant reforms to the role and structure of the Judicial Advisory Committees, aimed at enhancing the independence and transparency of the process, were announced on October 20, 2016. Sixteen Judicial Advisory Committees have been reconstituted to date.
SOURCE Department of Justice Canada
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