Andrew Mahar, Bonnie Tulloch named to Nunavut Court of Justice March 2
NUNATSIAQ NEWS
The federal Department of Justice announced two new judicial appointments to the Nunavut Court of Justice March 2.
Federal Justice Minister and Attorney General Rob Nicholson named Iqaluit lawyer Andrew Mahar and Ottawa Crown prosecutor Bonnie Tulloch to fill two new judge vacancies on the Nunavut Court of Justice.
The appointment of two new judges in Nunavut isn’t news. In its spring 2011 budget, the federal government announced $4.2 million to hire new judges and Crown prosecutors in Nunavut.
But it wasn’t clear until now who would fill those vacancies.
Mahar has practiced law in Iqaluit since 2001, the same length of time he has worked as an instructor for the Legal Interpreters Program.
Before he began his Iqaluit practice, Mahar practiced in Yellowknife and served as the clinic director of the Kitikmeot Law Centre of the Northwest Territories Legal Aid.
Mahar also sat as president of the Law Society of Nunavut from 2004 to 2006.
Tulloch, a lawyer with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, joined the federal department of justice in 2004 as a Crown prosecutor for its Nunavut regional office.
She has practiced criminal law in Iqaluit and worked with the Legal Services Board of Nunavut.
In 2007, Tulloch was named as special advisor on northern issues to the Public Prosecution Service. She sits as a member of both the Akitsiraq Law School Society and Law Society of Nunavut.
The new appointments will bring Nunavut’s number of permanent judges from four to six.
The announcement will be welcomed by many Nunavummiut, who say the territory’s justice system is among the most strained in the country.
Nunavut’s chief justice, Robert Kilpatrick, wrote to the federal justice minister in July, 2010, saying that Nunavut’s court system faces an “impending crisis” and desperately needs two more judges as soon as possible to handle the constantly rising rate of violent crime.
“The Court’s present complement of four judges cannot service the existing volume of violent crime without additional assistance,” Kilpatrick wrote in his letter to federal Justice minister Rob Nicholson.
The appointments of both Mahar and Tulloch are effective immediately.
4 comments:
Two Qallunaat.
Ouch
My bad! "Qallunaak." (dual)
If you want Inuit judges, then you should be supporting Akitsiraq and Inuit law students. At this point the list of Inuit with the required 10 years of practice is pretty pretty thin. I am thinking.........
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