The new judges take up their roles on December 5
Juliana Martel and Jane Wendy Yee Kin Shin have been appointed as new judges in the Ontario Court of Justice.
According to the Ontario government’s announcement on Monday, Martel and Yee join the bench on December 5. Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas assigned Martel to Ottawa and Yee to Brampton.
Martel has been an assistant Crown attorney at the Ministry of the Attorney General over the past 16 years. She has prosecuted complex cases related to sexual violence, homicides, child abuse and guns and gangs prosecutions, both in English and French.
She has acted as Crown counsel before the Ontario Review Board. Before commencing with the Ministry of the Attorney General, she articled with an Ottawa-based bilingual law firm after being called to the Ontario Bar in 2008.
Martel participated in the provincewide Crown Mentorship Program, the Sexual Violence Mentorship Program and the University of Ottawa’s Criminal Law Courthouse Mentorship Program as a mentor. In addition, she helped to lead a diversity and inclusion initiative for Hockey Eastern Ontario; she also advocated for virtual learning and bullying safeguards in school.
Meanwhile, Yee kicked off her legal career as a junior lawyer with David/Charles Barristers before going on to open her own practice, which specialized in family law, in 2006. She is fluent in English, French and Creole.
She has appeared before the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice, acting for clients of diverse backgrounds. She has also taken on a significant number of legal aid clients.
Since 2016, Yee has been actively involved with the North York Toronto Family Court Education Committee at the Ontario Court of Justice. In 2018, she became part of the Family Law Duty Counsel panel. In 2021, she began championing anti-discrimination and harassment in education systems as part of the Durham Catholic District School board’s Anti-Black Racism and Black Excellence advisory committee.
Last month, the Ontario Court of Justice also welcomed Christopher Chorney and Christa Reccord as judges.
