Appointments also include Patrick Angly as a new judicial justice
Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie has announced the appointments of Aamna Afsar, Christopher Balison, and Dennis Isaac Ferbey as judges and Patrick Angly as a judicial justice of the Provincial Court of British Columbia.
Gillespie called it a “great pleasure and privilege” to make the announcement. The appointments of the three new judges will take effect on May 1.
Afsar joined the BC Prosecution Service in 2006, served as Crown counsel in Vancouver for nearly 14 years, and worked in the Downtown Community Court for several years, according to a news release from the BC attorney general.
She joined Canada’s Immigration Refugee Board (IRB) in 2019. She earned the IRB’s Chairperson’s Award for her efforts to improve the adjudication of gender-related refugee claims through developing curriculum and training for the gender-related task force in 2020.
Afsar has served as an alternate chairperson of the BC Review Board since 2021, accepted an appointment as a judicial justice in July 2022, and became qualified to conduct French-language hearings.
She was a member and treasurer of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women from 2007–23. She has also coordinated workshops for the community on Canadian family law and domestic violence awareness and prevention.
Balison joined the BC bar in 2007, became Crown counsel, served as administrative Crown in the Kamloops office for two years, and accepted an appointment as deputy regional Crown counsel in the Interior region in December 2021.
From 2017–22, he was director and president of Baseball BC. In this role, he developed safe sport policies seeking to protect young people and ensure a safe, ethical, and equitable sporting environment.
Ferbey earned a law degree from the University of Victoria in 2007. For the first decade of his legal career, he acted as criminal defence counsel in Surrey and Delta. He frequently served as duty counsel and took on numerous legal aid files and pro bono legal work.
He started working at a general practice firm in Trail in March 2018. He resides and practises in the West Kootenays. He conducts federal prosecutions as an agent for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
Angly obtained an LLB from the University of British Columbia in 1982 and joined the BC bar in 1983. He has primarily acted as a sole practitioner and has spent his legal career of nearly four decades doing defence work. He has appeared before every court level and has acted for clients from various socioeconomic backgrounds.
BC’s attorney general said in the news release that these appointments aim to ensure timely and efficient access to justice.
