THUNDER BAY -- Two women from Thunder Bay have been chosen to serve on the federal government's judicial advisory committee for Northwestern and Eastern Ontario.
Celina Reitberger and Justice Bonnie Warkentin were both nominated by the Chief Justice of Ontario.
The judicial advisory committee will help review applications and select judges for a variety of different courts within Ontario, including Superior Court and provincial court.
Several Thunder Bay judges have retired in recent years, and need to be replaced.
Reitberger is the executive director of Nishnawbe Aski Legal services, and currently serves on the advisory committee for the creation of an indigenous people’s court here in Thunder Bay.
“I’m very excited because I know that one of the goals of choosing new judges is to have diversity, and we want more women judges, we want more Aboriginal judges and we want judges from the minority,” Reitberger said.
“There’s a formal application and there’s a number of documents that have to be submitted to the committee and there are reference checks, so we are involved with going over a mountain of information.”
Reitberger added that they're looking at people who have taken different routes through the justice system, which will lead to more diversity on the bench.
(TBT News)
