Provincial appointments

The province has appointed three new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice in the Toronto Region. In total, five judicial appointments have been made across Ontario and will be effective December 2, 2009. Madam Justice Leslie Chapin was called to the Bar in 1989. She practised civil litigation and family law at Enfield, Hemmerick, Adair and Wood in Toronto, before joining the Ministry of the Attorney General as an assistant Crown attorney in 1990. Most recently, she was deputy director of Crown operations in the Toronto region, providing legal and strategic advice to Crown attorneys in four offices. She was counsel to the regional director of Crown operations and acting director of the Special Investigations Unit. Madam Justice Chapin was also a member of the Ontario Crown Attorneys' Association and a board member of the East End Children's Centre. She has lectured at Osgoode Hall to the community and police about criminal law matters.  Chief Justice Annemarie E. Bonkalo has assigned Madam Justice Chapin to preside in Toronto.Justice Neil Kozloff was called to the Bar in 1979. He was an assistant Crown attorney and has prosecuted criminal charges in North York, Toronto, York Region, Durham and Peel. Since 1988, he was a sole practitioner appearing in all levels of court and tribunals, representing clients in a variety of criminal and quasi-criminal cases. Since 2005, he has led a team of lawyers representing the Ontario Provincial Police at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. He was a member of the Criminal Lawyers' Association and the Ontario Crown Attorneys' Association. Justice Kozloff has also served on the North York Mayor's Committee on Youth Violence and participated in several fund-raising activities for Gilda's Club of Greater Toronto. Chief Justice Annemarie E. Bonkalo has assigned Justice Kozloff to preside in Toronto.Madam Justice Diane Oleskiw was called to the Bar in 1989 in Ontario and in 2004 in the Yukon. From 1989 to 1991 she practised with Borden & Elliot in the areas of constitutional, administrative and criminal litigation. In April 1991, she joined the Ministry of the Attorney General as a Crown counsel in the Crown Law Office-Criminal and regularly appeared before the Court of Appeal. Since December 1993, she was a sole practitioner in criminal law. She has given many presentations and participated in workshops on various legal topics at children's centres, women's centres, rape crisis centres and new immigration programs. Madam Justice Oleskiw has been a member of the Criminal Lawyers' Association and the Advocates' Society. Chief Justice Annemarie E. Bonkalo has assigned Madam Justice Oleskiw to preside in Toronto. Justice Steve Anthony Coroza was called to the Bar in 1997. He worked with the Ontario Legal Aid Plan as a staff duty counsel in criminal matters and as a federal Crown counsel since July 1998. As senior counsel to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, he prosecuted offences and appeared at all levels of court in Ontario. He also supervised over 100 federal Crown agents throughout southern Ontario. He taught at Seneca College, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Advocates' Society and has been a panellist and presenter at various law associations' sessions. Justice Coroza served on the board of directors of the Alzheimer Society of Peel and as treasurer of the Mississauga Community Legal Services clinic. Chief Justice Annemarie E. Bonkalo has assigned Justice Coroza to preside in St. Catharines.Madam Justice Joyce Susan Elder was called to the Bar in 1985 and became an associate at Vaughan, Willms in Toronto. In 1986, she became an associate at Cheadle, Bryan, Johnson, Shanks in Thunder Bay. In 1990, she co-founded the law firm Bode and Tom, and since 1996, has been a sole practitioner. In 1988 she became a panel member for the Office of the Children's Lawyer representing children in dependents' relief proceedings, custody and access disputes and child protection matters.  She was also a settlement conference facilitator for Legal Aid Ontario and a panel member of Pro Bono Ontario's Child Advocacy Project. Madam Justice Elder was a member of the Ontario Review Board and on the board of directors of the Children's Centre in Thunder Bay. Chief Justice Annemarie E. Bonkalo has assigned Madam Justice Elder to preside in Thunder Bay.
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4

416 225 2777