WHAT WAS YOUR PATH INTO LAW AND ONTO THE BENCH?

I was a child of immigrant parents who overcame discriminatory barriers to take advantage of the opportunities Canada had to offer, and who encouraged their children to do the same. My ambition was to follow them both into teaching. It was my father who suggested that I apply to law school, to "just see what happens." Criminal law engaged me from the outset, and a summer student job at a Crown's office cemented that path. I enjoyed my many years of work as a prosecutor and manager within my Ministry, but eventually felt I had progressed as far as I could in that context and believed I could use the legal and managerial skills I had achieved there for another satisfying purpose.

Over the years, both through my legal career, as well as voluntary work with Operation Springboard and a number of other community charities and agencies, I had come to see the value of not just the denunciatory and deterrent aspects of the criminal justice system, but also its focus on rehabilitation.  I worked with people who had a passion for social justice, and a determination to make the world a better place for people in need, which also contributed to public safety by reducing the opportunity to choose involvement in crime and the potential for recidivism. In the latter years of my previous career, I also had opportunities to work with members of the judiciary on government projects regarding bail, court efficiency, and the federal “JUST” program. Those experiences helped to open my eyes to what judges really can, and do, accomplish. Being a judge gives one the opportunity to help individuals and our community, improve the legal system and, as a public servant, try and be an agent for change.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR COUNSEL WHO APPEAR BEFORE YOU?

Be prepared.  Know your client/witness and be thoroughly cognizant of the evidence in your case, so that you know which issue or issues to highlight for the presiding justice, or to respond to. Have a strategy mapped out. Judges appreciate organization—use indexes, charts, and chronologies to help us make decisions. And please, be civil! Never forget that we are dealing with real people and with issues apart from the scope of caselaw and precedent.