Government of Canada announces judicial appointments in the province of Québec 

News release

April 4, 2018 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Justice Canada 

The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointments under the new judicial application process announced on October 20, 2016. The new process emphasizes transparency, merit, and diversity, and will continue to ensure the appointment of jurists who meet the highest standards of excellence and integrity.

David E. Platts, a partner at McCarthy Tétrault, is appointed a judge of the Superior court of Quebec for the district of Montréal. He replaces Justice P.C. Gagnon, who chose to become a supernumerary judge effective December 12, 2017.

Jérôme Frappier, a partner at Frappier, Crevier, Trempe, is appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montréal. He replaces Justice M. Déziel, who chose to become a supernumerary judge effective January 16, 2018.

Biographies

After having received his B.A. Honours, Political Science and French, from the University of Calgary (with a year at Université Laval) and his law degrees in Civil and Common Law from McGill University, Justice David E. Platts was called to the Quebec Bar in 1991. He clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada with Justice Peter deCarteret Cory before returning to private practice, initially at Langlois Robert. Until his appointment to the bench, he was a partner with the firm McCarthy Tétrault, where he practised since 1996 a mix of intellectual property, civil and commercial litigation, and professional liability and disciplinary law, eventually specialising in the latter fields.

Justice Platts has appeared before the Quebec Superior Court and Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, Trial Division and Appeal, the Newfoundland Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as various administrative tribunals. He also has been an accounts arbitrator for the Quebec Bar. He has been a regular guest lecturer at McGill and elsewhere, a frequent speaker at conferences for lawyers and doctors, and a past President of the Guy Guérin Cup and Sopinka Cup Mooting Competitions.

Justice Platts is a strong supporter of diversity and inclusion, within the legal profession and in the community. He was Chief Inclusion Officer at McCarthy Tétrault and from 2012-2017 was President of GRIS-Montréal, one of Quebec’s most well-respected LGBT community organisations, working to demystify homosexuality and bisexuality in schools and seniors’ residences.

Excerpts from Justice Platts’s judicial application will be available shortly.

Justice Jérôme Frappier is a graduate of Université de Sherbrooke. In 1995 he founded Gauthier & Frappier (now Frappier, Crevier, Trempe) in Sorel-Tracy.

Justice Frappier decided to work in private practice outside a major city so he could pursue his goal of practising in several different areas of law, namely civil, commercial, administrative, matrimonial, criminal and penal law.

Justice Frappier has appeared frequently before all divisions of the Court of Quebec and the Superior Court, as well as the Court of Appeal. He is an advocate of alternative dispute resolution.

From 1997 to 2003, he served as Chair of the Employment Insurance Board of Referees.

In addition to devoting himself to his clients, Justice Frappier has been a director with various local community agencies, such as United Way/Centraide, Fondation des Amis de la bonne entente, Fondation Hôtel-Dieu de Sorel, and Azimut diffusion.

Justice Frappier is also a member of the Canadian Bar Association and is part of the Equality Committee, whose mandate is to promote awareness of equality issues among members of the legal profession and to suggest ways to eliminate discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, language, age or disability.

Excerpts from Justice Frappier’s judicial application will be available shortly.

Quick Facts

  • In 2017, the Minister of Justice made more than 100 appointments and elevations – the most a Minister of Justice has made in one year in at least two decades.
  • Of these appointees, half are women, four are Indigenous, and 16 have self‑identified as a member of a visible minority population, LGBTQ2, or a person with a disability. 
  • The Government of Canada is committed to promoting access to justice for all Canadians. To improve outcomes for Canadian families, Budget 2018 proposes $77.2 million over four years to support the expansion of unified family courts, beginning in 2019-2020. This investment in the family justice system will create 39 new judicial positions in Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
  • In addition, Budget 2018 proposes funding for a further seven judicial positions in Saskatchewan and Ontario, at a cost of $17.1 million over five years.
  • The funding outlined in Budget 2018 comes on top of resources allocated under Budget 2017, which created 28 new judicial positions across the country.
  • Additionally, the Government will ensure that a robust process remains in place to allow Canadians to voice their concerns and submit complaints about judicial conduct to the Canadian Judicial Council and the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs. This investment of $6 million over two years, beginning in 2018-2019, will support the judicial discipline process through which allegations of judicial misconduct are investigated.
  • Federal judicial appointments are made by the Governor General, acting on the advice of the federal Cabinet and recommendations from the Minister of Justice.
  • The Judicial Advisory Committees across Canada play a key role in evaluating judicial applications. There are 17 Judicial Advisory Committees, with each province and territory represented.
  • Significant reforms to the role and structure of the Judicial Advisory Committees, aimed at enhancing the independence and transparency of the process, were announced on October 20, 2016. Sixteen Judicial Advisory Committees have been reconstituted to date.

Contacts

For more information, media may contact:

David Taylor
Office of the Minister of Justice
613-992-4621

Media Relations
Department of Justice Canada
613-957-4207
media@justice.gc.ca

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