Government of Canada announces judicial appointments in the province of New Brunswick

News release

June 4, 2019 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Justice Canada 

The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointments under the new judicial application process introduced 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.

Christa Bourque, Q.C., a partner at McInnes Cooper in Moncton, is appointed a Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick, Family Division. Madam Justice Bourque fills the vacancy created by the appointment of Madam Justice T.K. DeWare to Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick.

Arthur T. Doyle, a partner at Cox & Palmer in Saint John, is appointed a Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick, Trial Division. Mr. Justice Doyle replaces Mr. Justice W.T. Grant, who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective October 28, 2018.

Robert M. Dysart, Q.C., a partner at Stewart McKelvey in Moncton, is appointed a Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick, Trial Division. Mr. Justice Dysart replaces Mr. Justice S. McNally, who retired effective April 11, 2019.

Biographies

Justice Bourque was born in Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories (now Iqualuit, Nunavut), and grew up in Moncton. She attended l’Université de Moncton, where she obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration, followed by her LL.B. which she completed in 1994. Justice Bourque was called to the bar in 1995 and began her legal career in Saint John with the firm of Barry & O’Neil. In 1998, she returned to Moncton and joined the law firm of McInnes Cooper, where she has practiced for the past 21 years.

Justice Bourque’s practice covers a range of areas including insurance litigation, municipal law, and commercial litigation. She specializes in advising clients in the area of insurance law, including life and disability claims. She has appeared before the Court of Queen’s Bench on many occasions, as well as before the New Brunswick Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

A dedicated member of the New Brunswick Law Society, Justice Bourque served as a member of the New Brunswick Law Foundation for 10 years. She then became a member of the Discipline Committee and was recently appointed Vice‐Chair. She has lectured on many topics at the New Brunswick Bar Admission course in both French and English. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2016.

For many years, Justice Bourque served as a Lay Councillor for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick. She was a member of the Board of Trustees and Bursary Committee of l’Université de Moncton Law School and has acted as a judge in various moot court competitions, including the Laskin.

In 2018, Justice Bourque completed the Mediating Disputes program at Harvard Law School and has since acted as a mediator in a number of matters.

She lives in Dieppe, New Brunswick, with her husband, their two daughters, and their beloved Goldendoodles.

Justice Doyle received his B.Sc. from the University of New Brunswick and his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School. He began his legal career with Patterson Palmer Hunt Murphy (a predecessor firm of Cox & Palmer) in 1995, where he completed his articles of clerkship.

From 1998 until rejoining Cox & Palmer as a partner in 2004, Justice Doyle was associated with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, a New York–based international law firm. He represented companies throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe on transactions including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments, financing transactions, and reorganizations.

Since rejoining Cox & Palmer, Justice Doyle continued to represent companies in similar transactions. He also had a corporate finance/securities law practice and was involved in many of Canada’s national securities offerings and other corporate finance/securities law-related transactions originating in the United States and abroad.

He was recognized twice as a “Lexpert Rising Star: Leading Lawyer Under 40” and twice as among the “Canadian Corporate Lawyers to Watch” in Lexpert’s Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada. Lexpert has consistently recognized him as a leading practitioner in the area of corporate finance and securities and corporate commercial law. The Best Lawyers in Canada publication has consistently recognized him as a leading practitioner in securities law and mergers and acquisitions law.

Justice Doyle has served as a volunteer and director on a number of Canadian organizations.

Justice Dysart was born and raised in Moncton, New Brunswick. He obtained degrees in History and English Literature from Dalhousie University and the University of New Brunswick before returning to Dalhousie to study law. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws in 1996. Justice Dysart articled with the law firm Stewart McKelvey in Saint John, New Brunswick, before transferring to the firm’s Moncton office in 1998. He was admitted as a partner of the firm in 2004, and he remained with Stewart McKelvey throughout his career. He maintained a broad bilingual litigation practice, including insurance, construction, and commercial litigation. In recent years, his practice was focused on health law, medical malpractice defence, and professional regulatory matters.

Justice Dysart contributed to his profession by volunteering with the Canadian Bar Association (NB) and by acting as an elected member of Council and as past Chair of the Insurance Law Section. He was a frequent presenter in the areas of health, insurance, and construction law. He was a guest lecturer at the University of New Brunswick Law School in Health Law, and he was an instructor at the Law Society of New Brunswick’s Bar Admission Course in Civil Litigation for many years. He received his Queen’s Counsel designation in 2018, and he was admitted as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America that same year.

Justice Dysart lives in Moncton, New Brunswick, with his wife Patty and their two children.

Quick facts

  • At the Superior Court level, more than 300 judges have been appointed since November 2015. These exceptional jurists represent the diversity that strengthens Canada. Of these judges, more than half are women, and appointments reflect an increased representation of visible minorities, Indigenous, LGBTQ2S and those who self-identify as having a disability.

  • The Government of Canada is committed to promoting access to justice for all Canadians. To improve outcomes for Canadian families, Budget 2018 will provide funding of $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 provided 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.

  • In addition, the Government will invest $6 million over two years, beginning in 2018-2019, to support the judicial discipline process through which allegations of judicial misconduct are investigated. In this way, 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.

  • 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:

Rachel Rappaport
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Justice
613-992-6568
rachel.rappaport@justice.gc.ca

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

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