Four women have been recently appointed to Ontario Court of Justice
The Ontario government has announced the appointment of Dana Irene Haklander, Veronica Katherine Judith Puls, Kelly Marie Slate, and Erin Samantha Thomas as judges of the Ontario Court of Justice, effective Sept. 12.
Sharon Nicklas – chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice – assigned Puls, Slate, and Thomas to Brampton, Ontario’s government announced in a news release. Meanwhile, Haklander’s appointment is in Milton.
Justice Haklander handled child protection matters while serving as in-house counsel for Family and Children’s Services of St. Thomas and Elgin beginning in 2014. She was previously an articling student then an associate at Gunn & Associates. She was called to the Ontario bar in 2011.
Haklander has volunteered for several organizations. In 2011, she and her family received the June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Voluntarism in recognition of their contributions to the community.
Justice Puls was an assistant Crown attorney with the Peel Crown Attorney’s Office for a decade. She worked with specialized prosecution groups such as the provincial guns and gangs unit as a member of the provincial human trafficking prosecution team starting in 2017. She has prosecuted complex project matters in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. She was admitted to the Ontario bar in 2007.
Puls has lectured at continuing education programs for Crowns and police on issues like human trafficking and search and wiretap law. She has also organized mock trials for high school students. She has been a volunteer with the Peel Justice Education Network and a board member of a charity providing addiction-related services.
Justice Slate worked for the Peel Crown Attorney's Office, where she was an assistant Crown attorney then a deputy Crown attorney beginning in 2017. She was previously Crown counsel with the Crown Law Office – Criminal for a year. She has prosecuted matters focusing on sexual violence and child abuse at the Superior Court and the Ontario Court of Justice. She joined the Ontario bar in 2002.
She became an instructor at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2014 and was later promoted to the role of adjunct professor. She taught the trial advocacy course and coached the competitive moot team for participation in the Arnup Cup/Sopinka Cup. She has been a co-director of the Sexual Violence Summer Course for Crown Attorneys, a presenter before the Ontario Police College and the Peel Regional Police, and founder of a dance company.
Justice Thomas was most recently a deputy Crown attorney at the York Region Crown Attorney's Office. Before that, she prosecuted cases in the Superior Court and the Ontario Court of Justice as an assistant Crown attorney in Kitchener, Etobicoke, and York Region from 2012–19. Thomas has also been Crown counsel to the assistant deputy attorney general’s criminal law division.
As a private practitioner, Thomas was an associate then a partner at Rusonik, O'Connor, Robbins, Ross, Gorham & Angelini, LLP. She was also an associate at Pinkofskys Criminal Trial and Appeal Lawyers. She has been a member of the Ontario bar since 2008.
Thomas has been a mock trial coach with the Ontario Judicial Education Network for the past seven years. She received the Sholem Altman Award for Fellowship and Excellence in Continuing Legal Education in honour of this work. She has also volunteered for running events.
