WHAT WAS YOUR PATH INTO LAW AND ONTO THE BENCH?

My experiences growing up in a small town in northeastern New Brunswick shaped my professional goals and helped form the foundation for my life in public service. 

My father immigrated to Canada from Ghana, West Africa in the 1950s. He, together with my mother, a Canadian of French and Irish descent, settled in New Brunswick to raise their five daughters and start a family medical practice. We were the only African-Canadian family in the community. My parents faced many challenges – racial prejudice, institutional and systemic discrimination, and limited economic resources. Still, they never wavered in their commitment to serve our community and show dignity and respect for everyone. Through their example, I knew early on that I wanted to commit my time, passion, and energy to impacting peoples’ lives in a positive way.

The pull toward public service meshed well with my passion for debate and advocacy. Going all the way back to my childhood, I gravitated toward spirited academic debates. I was raised in a family where, no matter your age or stage in life, opinions were shared, and open discourse was part of our everyday family life. That eventually grew into a love for more formal advocacy. My years of competing in national and international debate and public speaking competitions reinforced my desire to serve the public through advocacy.

Once I was called to the bar, my career did not follow a particularly straight line. I took some calculated risks and let my interests and instincts lead me. My path took me first to Bay Street as a civil litigator, then to the Crown’s Office as trial counsel. Over the years that followed, I took time to pursue other areas of the law. I had fantastic experiences working in international criminal and human rights law in the Hague. I engaged in challenging but immensely rewarding pro bono work with an Innocence Project in the United States. I worked as Legal Counsel to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. My career may not have been linear, but each step made sense to me because each one was meaningful and offered opportunities for me to make a contribution. It is not always easy to venture off the path, but embracing new and interesting challenges is well worth it.

WHAT EXPERIENCE IN YOUR LEGAL CAREER BEST PREPARED YOU FOR WORK ON THE BENCH?

I have benefited greatly from the diversity of my experience as a litigator, which has been invaluable in preparing me for my role as a judge. Trial work, which I enjoyed throughout my career, gave me the tools and insights to effectively manage trial proceedings as a judge.

I began my career in civil litigation, handling a variety of matters, from commercial litigation to medical malpractice and professional discipline cases, to product liability and bankruptcy proceedings.

Later, as an Assistant Crown Attorney with the Downtown Crown’s Office, I gained expertise in criminal law and procedure. My work as an Assistant Crown Attorney also made me critically aware the “fault lines” that exist within the justice system, the immense challenges created where justice participants lack access to justice, and the critical role the courts play in safeguarding the rights of the accused.

With my appointment to the Ontario Court of Justice in 2017, I experienced criminal law through the lens of people from all walks of life, particularly while presiding in specialized courts such as the Indigenous Peoples (Gladue) Court and the Drug Treatment Court.

Experiencing the criminal law through different lenses reinforced for me how vital attentive, open-minded, and non-judgmental listening is to the pursuit of justice, and how critically important it is for all parties in the justice system to be heard. Those values are ingrained in my legal reasoning as a trial judge.

The other part of my legal background that has served me well in my role as a judge is my love of research and writing, and the study of law. I have always loved unpacking and dissecting complex issues. In my undergraduate studies at Harvard, I wrote a thesis as part of my Bachelor of Arts degree in History. As I started my career in law, I found opportunities to continue with academic writing, including writing a thesis as part of my Master’s degree from Georgetown Law in international human rights and criminal law, which was published as a chapter in an anthology about crimes against humanity, and in my work with the International Criminal Court and with the Court of Appeal for Ontario, both as legal counsel.

Now, as a judge, I continue to analyze complex legal issues, attempting to distill down difficult questions into reasons that are clear and understandable to litigants. It can be a daunting challenge, but very satisfying, in that I consider myself a law student for life and I learn something new with every case I hear.

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

The most effective advocates are those who come very prepared. The well-prepared advocate is able to explain their case and arguments to the court clearly and concisely. The well-prepared advocate knows the strengths of their case and is better able to focus the court’s attention on the important points. They are more discerning in their advocacy, favouring a curated list of arguments over launching a multitude of arguments in the hopes of finding one that will “stick”. A well-prepared advocate recognizes the value of conceding points which are not in dispute.

It is also critically important that civility in the courtroom be top of mind for all counsel - toward other counsel, the litigants, the staff, and the bench.

WHAT DO YOU WISH THE PUBLIC KNEW ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM?

I wish the public knew that the true value and strength of our justice system cannot be measured by the results of individual cases or a media report, but in the way that we work to safeguard individual rights and ensure the integrity of our process by continually re-visiting, re-evaluating, and re-calibrating how we deliver justice. There are so many hard-working people, at all levels, striving to achieve the highest ideals of our justice system.