New associate chief justice has spent two decades on the bench
Faye McWatt will serve as the new associate chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, taking the place of Justice Frank Marrocco, who retired on Nov. 10, 2020. Justice McWatt was appointed a judge of the Superior Court in 2000, where she handled criminal, family and civil law matters.
“She brings a wealth of experience to the position, with 14 years practising law and 20 years as a judge in Ontario,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced the appointment on a Dec. 21 news release.
McWatt, who immigrated to Canada from Guyana in 1962, has served as a Crown attorney practising criminal law, as a criminal defence lawyer, as a federal justice department agent prosecuting federal narcotics offences and as counsel before numerous commissions of inquiry. She earned her LLB from the University of Ottawa and her admission to the Ontario bar in 1986.
Five justices have joined the Ontario Court of Justice: John David Bonn, Dominique Kennedy, Tanya Maria Kranjc, Nicole Elizabeth Redgate and Craig Sigurdson, effective Dec. 31, 2020.
Justice Bonn, assigned by Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve to Belleville, was a deputy judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Bonn has served as a prosecutor on behalf of the Public Prosecution of Canada and of the Ministry of Transportation. He was a per diem Crown attorney and duty counsel for Legal Aid Ontario. As a private practitioner, he handled criminal, personal injury and civil law matters. He has volunteered with the Ontario Justice Education Network. He was admitted to the Nova Scotia bar in 2001 and to the Ontario bar in 2004.
Justice Kennedy, assigned to Kitchener, first joined the Office of the Crown Attorney in Scarborough, where she served as the education representative within the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association, then in the Kitchener office, where she prosecuted serious criminal cases in English and French, dealt with Canadian Charter applications and presented on sensitive criminal law topics. Kennedy was called to the bar in 2008.
Justice Kranjc, assigned to Brampton, worked for the Toronto West Crown Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted youth and adult matters. Kranjc was also Crown Counsel in the Crown Law Office - Criminal. As a private practitioner, she centred her practice on criminal and quasi-criminal matters. She has been a director of the Sentencing Course of the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association. She has volunteered with the Ontario Justice Education Network and with the Law Society of Ontario. She was admitted to the bar in 2000.
Justice Redgate, assigned to Kitchener, has held numerous roles for the Crown Attorney’s Office, such as Indigenous diversion program lead counsel, warrant advisory committee lead counsel, sexual violence mentorship program lead counsel and intimate partner violence lead counsel. Redgate has been a founder of the Perth County Therapeutic Court Working Group and a director of the Family Violence Project of the Waterloo Region. She was called to the bar in 2006.
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Justice Sigurdson, assigned to Kitchener, has worked at the Office of the Crown Attorney and at the Ministry of the Attorney General, where he was the designated divisional DNA coordinator. Sigurdson was chairperson on the High Risk and Domestic Violence Court Advisory Committees and was the Crown tasked with establishing a Mental Health Treatment Court in Elgin County. He was admitted to the bar in 2003.