Government of Canada announces judicial appointments in the province of Quebec

OTTAWA, June 27, 2019 /CNW/ - The Honourable David Lametti, 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.

Stéphane Lacoste, Counsel at Teamsters Canada in Laval, is appointed a Judge of the Superior Court of Québec for the district of Montréal. Mr. Justice Lacoste replaces Madam Justice L. Fournier (Montréal), who was elevated to the Court of Appeal of Quebec on June 11, 2019.

Patrick Buchholz, Partner at Lavery in Montréal, is appointed a Judge of the Superior Court of Québec for the district of Montréal. Mr. Justice Buchholz replaces Mr. Justice B. Moore (Montréal), who was elevated to the Court of Appeal of Quebec on June 11, 2019.

Marie-Christine Hivon, Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP in Montréal, is appointed a Judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montréal. Madam Justice Hivon would fill the last remaining position allocated to the Superior Court further to Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1.

Biographies

Justice Lacoste obtained his Bachelor of Laws Degree from Université de Montréal in 1988. While he has devoted his career to labour and employment law, human rights, and privacy and protection of personal information, he has experience in all areas of the law. He practised law at Castiglio et Associés in Montréal until 1997. He then joined the legal team of a Quebec union and remained there until 2004, when he became general counsel for Teamsters Canada, a national union.

Justice Lacoste is bilingual. He has given many talks and published various articles dealing with different aspects of labour law, privacy, and administrative law.

Highly involved in his profession, he has been president of the Quebec branch of the Canadian Bar Association and chair of its Labour and Employment Section and its Legislation and Law Reform Committee. He is governor of the Quebec Bar Foundation.

Justice Lacoste is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. In 2018, the Barreau du Québec awarded him the title of Advocatus Emeritus, which is awarded to members who have distinguished themselves through their outstanding career and impressive contribution to the legal profession.

He has been married for over 30 years and has three children and two grandchildren.

Justice Buchholz received his Bachelor of Civil Law degree from Université Laval in 1991 and his Common Law degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1990. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science (Honours) from McGill University (1987).

Prior to his appointment, Justice Buchholz was a partner with the law firm of Lavery in Montréal, where he practised corporate and commercial law from 1996 to 2007, and again since February 2019. Called to the Quebec Bar in 1992, he began with Lavery as a commercial and civil liability litigator and appeared before Quebec courts of all levels.

For just over a decade, Justice Buchholz was Vice-President, Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary at the daily news publication La Presse, where he was responsible for all of its legal and intellectual property matters.

He is co-author of two books on competition law: Loi sur la concurrence annotée (2000) and the Manuel de droit de la concurrence (2004).

Justice Buchholz is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the International Literary and Artistic Association. He was a longstanding member of the Board of Governors of Champlain Regional College (1993-2007) and of the Board of Directors of l'Opéra de Montréal (2000-2014). Since 2009, he has been a board member of the Fondation La Mosaïque, a charity on the South Shore of Montréal.

He and his wife, Geneviève, are the parents of three young adults.

Justice Hivon obtained a bachelor's degree in civil law and common law from McGill University in 1996 and became a member of the Barreau du Québec and the New York State Bar Association in 1997. Until her appointment, she practised law at Norton Rose Fulbright, where she worked in litigation for almost 20 years. Before that, Justice Hivon spent three years as a litigator at Pepin Létourneau. She was principally active in civil and commercial litigation, construction law, professional liability, energy law, administrative law, and contracting.

She has argued before all levels of the province's common law courts, as well as before regulatory agencies and administrative tribunals in the energy sector across the country, specifically with respect to various issues involving natural gas and electricity.

Justice Hivon was involved with the CBA's Quebec Branch for many years and was the branch's president in 2017–18. At the time of her appointment, she was the outgoing chair of the Branch Executive Committee and chair of the Equality Committee. She has also worked with young lawyers in various capacities, including mentoring a number of young colleagues at her law firm and participating in the creation of the Young Lawyers Section of CBA-Quebec in 2018.

She and her husband, Olivier, have two children.

Quick Facts

• At the Superior Court level, more than 300 judges have been appointed since November 2015. These exceptional jurists represent the diversity that strengthens Canada. Of these judges, more than half are women, and appointments reflect an increased representation of visible minorities, Indigenous, LGBTQ2S and those who self-identify as having a disability.
• 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

media may contact: Rachel Rappaport, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Justice, 613-992-6568, [email protected]; Media Relations, Department of Justice Canada, 613-957-4207, [email protected]