OTTAWA, Oct. 9, 2018 /CNW/ - The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointment under the new judicial application process announced 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.
Veronica Jackson, senior counsel at the Ministry of the Attorney General of British Columbia, is appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver. She replaces Justice H.J. Holmes, who was appointed Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia on June 21, 2018.
Biography
Justice Veronica Jackson was born in New Brunswick, raised in Manitoba, and later moved to British Columbia. She received her LL.B. from the University of Alberta in 1992 and her LL.M. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2010. She was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1993 and the British Columbia Bar in 2007 and began her legal career as a criminal prosecutor with Manitoba Justice. She later joined the Winnipeg law firm of Scurfield Tapper Cuddy, where her practice included commercial litigation, professional regulation, criminal defence work and child protection cases. From 2007 until her appiontment, Justice Jackson practised as part of the Legal Services Branch of the British Columbia Ministry of Attorney General, first with the Constitutional and Administrative Law Group and most recently undertaking tax and constitutional litigation with the Revenue and Taxation Group. She has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria's Faculty of Law, where she has taught legal ethics and professionalism since 2014.
Throughout her career, Justice Jackson has been committed to equality and diversity. She is a former member of the National Legal Committee of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), a former Chair of the Canadian Bar Association's Women Lawyers Forum and its Constitutional and Human Rights Law Section, and has been recognized both for her contribution towards the promotion of equality in the legal profession and her pro bono work on behalf of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba. She has been a frequent contributor to a variety of legal and community education programs and has served on the boards of several community and arts organizations, including the Belfry Theatre in Victoria and the Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg.
Justice Jackson and her husband Bill, a professional engineer, have two adult children.
Quick Facts
- Since taking office, the Minister of Justice has made over 200 judicial appointments, including 100 in 2017 – 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, 18 have self-identified as a member of a visible minority population, 12 identify as LGBTQ2, and three identify as a person with 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: Célia Canon, Communications Advisor, Office of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, 613-862-3270; Media Relations, Department of Justice Canada, 613-957-4207, [email protected]
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