eNews: Judges
During the pandemic the BC Provincial Court modified many of its front-end procedures to maintain British Columbians’ access to justice. Innovations like virtual conferences, virtual bail hearings, and digital court orders did more than that – they reduced barriers for court users and improved timely access. Because they’ve worked well those new procedures are here to stay.
Forty years after they attended elementary school together, Judges Lorianna Bennett and Lynett Jung met again as Provincial Court judges. Both had attended George Slater Elementary School in Kamloops in the 1980s, but they only realized their childhood connection when a friend pointed it out.
A “Renaissance person” is one with wide interests who is expert in several areas. There is no better description of Judge Gurmail Gill, the first person of South Asian heritage appointed to the BC Provincial Court.
Most of the BC Provincial Court’s judicial justices are part-time judicial officers who may also do other work as long as it doesn’t conflict with their judicial duties in any way. For example, judicial justices may practise law, but not criminal law, because they deal with trials of provincial offence tickets, search warrant applications, and bail hearings.
Canada honours people who make extraordinary contributions to our nation by appointing them to the Order of Canada. In June, retired BC Provincial Court judge Marion Buller was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in recognition of “her leadership in Indigenous rights advocacy as the first woman of a First Nation to be appointed to the Provincial Court of British Columbia”.