Andrea Ormiston, Tina Dion, David Layton, Eric Gottardi appointed judges of BC Supreme Court
The BC government announced the judicial appointments of Sheri Ann Donegan and W. Paul Riley to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and Andrea Ormiston, Tina Dion, David Layton, and Eric Gottardi to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
“I wish Justices Donegan, Riley, Ormiston, Dion, Layton, and Gottardi every success as they take on their new roles,” said Arif Virani, federal justice minister and attorney general, who made the announcement.
Donegan, a judge of the British Columbia Supreme Court since 2013, was appointed in Vancouver to replace Justice John J.L. Hunter, who resigned last Feb. 11.
She was a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia from 2010–13, Crown counsel for the BC attorney general in Kamloops and New Westminster from 1998–2010, and a lawyer at Mair Jensen Blair LLP in Kamloops from 1992–98. She obtained her bachelor of laws degree with distinction in 1992 and admission to the BC bar in 1993.
Riley, a judge of the British Columbia Supreme Court since 2017, was appointed in Vancouver to take the place of Justice Gregory J. Fitch, who resigned effective last Apr. 30.
He became Crown counsel with the now Public Prosecution Service of Canada in 1997 and headed the appeals group in its BC regional office starting in 2007. He frequently conducted appeals in the British Columbia Court of Appeal and appeared as lead counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada in criminal and constitutional law cases.
“I am confident they will serve the people of British Columbia well as members of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and the Supreme Court of British Columbia,” said Virani in the news release.
BC Supreme Court’s new judges
Ormiston, a judge of the British Columbia Provincial Court since 2017 and assigned in Chilliwack, replaced Justice Robert W. Jenkins in Abbotsford, who became a supernumerary judge effective Jan. 1, 2022.
In both Ontario and BC, she worked as Crown counsel focusing on criminal law. From 2003–04, she interned at Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, the Native Law Centre of Canada, and the University of Vienna. She obtained her bachelor of laws degree from the University of Ottawa in 2002. She was called to the Ontario bar in 2003 and to the BC bar in 2005.
Dion, a judge of the British Columbia Provincial Court since 2019 and assigned in Surrey, took the place of Justice Frits E. Verhoeven in New Westminster, who became a supernumerary judge effective last Jan. 22.
A member of the Kehewin Cree Nation in Alberta, she became the first Canadian law clerk to the Navajo Nation Supreme Court in Window Rock, Arizona in 1998. She received a bachelor of laws degree from the University of British Columbia in 1997 and a doctor of juridical science degree from the University of Arizona in 2008. She earned admission to the BC bar in 1999 and to the Alberta bar in 2014.
Layton – deputy director of criminal appeals at the BC Ministry of the Attorney General’s prosecution service in Vancouver, which he joined in 2014 – was appointed in Port Coquitlam to fill the remaining position authorized under the Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1.
He clerked for Chief Justice Brian Dickson at the Supreme Court of Canada. He worked at the firms of what is now Torys LLP, Marko Rose Layton, Shiller Layton Arbuck, Gibbons Fowler, and Richie Sandford. He obtained an LLB from Dalhousie University in 1987 and a bachelor of civil law degree from the University of Oxford in 1989. He was called to the BC bar in 2002.
Gottardi, a senior partner at Peck and Company in Vancouver since 2010, replaced Justice W. Paul Riley in New Westminster, who was elevated to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia effective last Aug. 28.
He devoted most of his years of legal practice to Peck and Company. As trial and appellate counsel, he focused on criminal defence, constitutional law, and extradition law. He worked as a prosecutor on special prosecutions in BC and Ontario. He obtained a bachelor of law degree from Queen’s University in 2002 and admission to the BC bar in 2003.
