Court of Appeal for Ontario


The Court of Appeal for Ontario is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Society of Ontario and the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Description

The Court is composed of 22 judicial seats, in addition to one or more justices who sit supernumerary. They hear over 1,500 appeals each year, on issues of private law, constitutional law, criminal law, administrative law and other matters. The Supreme Court of Canada hears appeals from less than 3% of the decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, therefore in a practical sense, the Court of Appeal is the last avenue of appeal for most litigants in Ontario.
Among the Court of Appeal's most notable decisions was the 2003 ruling in Halpern v Canada that found defining marriage as between one man and one woman to violate Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, legalizing same-sex marriage in Ontario and making Canada the first jurisdiction in the world where same-sex marriage was legalized by a court ruling. Among many judges from the Court who have been elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada are Justices Rosalie Abella, Louise Arbour, Peter Cory, Louise Charron, Andromache Karakatsanis, Bora Laskin and Michael Moldaver, as well as Bertha Wilson, who was the first female justice on both the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Court of Appeal derives its jurisdiction from Ontario's .

Current judges

PositionNameAppointedNominated byPosition Prior to Appointment*
Chief JusticeGeorge Strathy13 6 2014
26 4 2013		HarperOntario Court of Appeal
Superior Court of Justice
Associate Chief JusticeAlexandra Hoy7 6 2013
2 12 2011		HarperOntario Court of Appeal
Superior Court of Justice
JusticeMary Lou Benotto8 11 2013HarperSuperior Court of Justice
Family Court
Chapell Bushell Stewart
JusticeDavid M Brown16 12 2014HarperSuperior Court of Justice
JusticeSteve A. Coroza06 04 2020J. TrudeauSuperior Court of Justice
Ontario Court of Justice
JusticeDavid H. Doherty1 9 1990MulroneySuperior Court of Justice
JusticeJ. Michal Fairburn18 7 2017J. TrudeauSuperior Court of Justice
Stockwoods
Ontario Crown Law Office
JusticeAlison Harvison Young31 8 2018J. TrudeauSuperior Court of Justice
JusticeC. William Hourigan02 10 2013HarperSuperior Court of Justice
Fasken Martineau LLP
JusticeGrant Huscroft16 12 2014HarperProfessor, Western Law School
University of Auckland
JusticeMahmud Jamal24 06 2019J. TrudeauOsler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
JusticePeter Lauwers14 12 2012HarperSuperior Court of Justice
Miller Thompson LLP
JusticeIan Nordheimer15 9 2017J. TrudeauSuperior Court of Justice
Counsel with Fraser & Beatty / Dentons LLP
JusticeBradley Miller26 6 2015HarperSuperior Court of Justice
JusticeDavid M. Paciocco7 4 2017J. TrudeauOntario Court of Justice
Professor at University of Ottawa
JusticeLois Roberts05 5 2015HarperSuperior Court of Justice
Genest Murray LLP
Cassels Brock
JusticeJulie Thorburn01 9 2019J. TrudeauSuperior Court of Justice
JusticeGary T. Trotter20 10 2016J. TrudeauSuperior Court of Justice
Ontario Court of Justice
Professor at Queen's University
Ontario Crown Counsel
JusticeMichael Tulloch30 6 2012HarperSuperior Court of Justice
Private practice
JusticeKatherine van Rensburg02 10 2013HarperSuperior Court of Justice
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
JusticeDavid Watt12 10 2007HarperSuperior Court of Justice
JusticeBenjamin Zarnett9 11 2018J. TrudeauGoodmans LLP

Supernumerary Justices
PositionNameAppointedNominated byPosition Prior to Appointment*
Supernumerary JusticeKathryn N. Feldman11 6 1998ChrétienSuperior Court of Justice
Supernumerary JusticeEileen E. Gillese5 1 2002ChrétienSuperior Court of Justice
Supernumerary JusticeRussell G. Juriansz12 3 2004MartinSuperior Court of Justice
Supernumerary JusticeJames C. MacPherson25 5 1999ChrétienSuperior Court of Justice
Supernumerary JusticeGladys Pardu8 11 2013HarperSuperior Court of Justice
Pardu Macdonald
Supernumerary JusticeSarah Pepall10 4 2012HarperSuperior Court of Justice
Supernumerary JusticePaul Rouleau15 4 2005MartinSuperior Court of Justice
Heenan Blaikie
Supernumerary JusticeJanet M. Simmons23 8 2000ChrétienSuperior Court of Justice

Chief Justices of Ontario

Past judges

NameTime in OfficeNominated byPosition Prior to Appointment*
Edward W. Ducharme 2012 - 2013Stephen Harper
Marc Rosenberg1995–2015Jean Chretien
Stephen Goudge1996–2014Jean Chretien
Warren Winkler, Chief Justice2007–2013
Dennis O'Connor1998–2012Jean Chretien
Michael Moldaver1995–2011Jean Chretien
Andromache Karakatsanis2010–2011
Marvin A. Catzman1988–2007
Roy McMurtry1996-2007 as Chief Justice
Louise Charron1995–2004Jean Chretien
Rosalie Abella1992–2004
Louise Arbour1990–1999
Charles Dubin1973–1996
William Goldwin Carrington Howland as Chief Justice1977–1992
Walter Tarnopolsky1985–1993
Peter Cory1981–1989
Bert MacKinnon1974–1987 as Associate Chief Justice
Bertha Wilson1975–1982
Goldwyn Arthur Martin1973–1988
Bora Laskin1965–1970
Jean-Marc Labrosse1990–2007
Roy Kellock1942–1944
Henry Hague Davis1933–1935
Newton Wesley Rowell as Chief Justice1936–1937
Sir William Mulock as Chief Justice1923–1936
John Douglas Armour1887–1890
John Hawkins Hagarty as Chief Justice1884–1897
Thomas Moss as Chief Justice1878–1880
Robert Alexander Harrison as Chief Justice1875–1878

Chief Justices of Upper Canada (1792–1841)/Province of Canada (1841–1867)