NORTHWEST TERRITORIES JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT ANNOUNCED

Ottawa, June 27, 2006 – The Honourable Vic Toews, Q.C., Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointment:

The Honourable Louise Anne Marie Charbonneau, Senior Counsel, Federal Prosecution Service of the Department of Justice of Canada, Northwest Territories Regional Office in Yellowknife, is appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. She replaces Mr. Justice M.M. de Weerdt ( Yellowknife) who was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Madam Justice Charbonneau obtained her Licence of Laws from the University of Ottawa in 1987. She was awarded the Gold Medal from the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section for best overall academic record during the law school program 1984-1987. Ms. Charbonneau was admitted to the Bar of the Northwest Territories in 1990 and to the Québec Bar in 1989. In her role since 1999 as Director of Federal Prosecution Service at the Department of Justice and as a Crown Prosecutor for the Department of Justice from 1990-1999, she has carried out litigation and administrative tasks relating to criminal prosecutions and appellate work. Since April 2006, Ms. Charbonneau left her management functions to return to criminal prosecutions. Madam Justice Charbonneau has acted as a member of the Discipline Committee and the Admissions Committee for the Law Society of the Northwest Territories.

The appointment is effective immediately.

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Ref.:

Mike Storeshaw
Office of the Minister of Justice
(613) 992-4621