Ontario appoints next provincial court chief justice

The provincial government announced on Monday the next chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice — using an appointment process the court’s own judges described as an “aberration.”

Judge Sharon Nicklas, who currently serves as one of the court’s associate chief justices, will take over from outgoing Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve when her eightyear term ends on May 31, Attorney General Doug Downey said Monday.

Nicklas was a Crown attorney for more than a decade before her appointment to the bench in Kitchener in 2007. She became associate chief justice in 2019, as well as coordinator of the justices of the peace.

Called to the bar in 1994, Nicklas is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s faculty of law.

“It is an honour to have been appointed chief justice, and I look forward to serving the public and the court in this next role,” Nicklas said in a statement Monday.

Downey said in a tweet that he believed Nicklas “will be a strong leader, steadfast in the effective administration of justice and unwavering in her commitment to all Ontarians.”

Downey sparked outrage from the Association of Ontario Judges last year when he asked that potential candidates for the top job apply directly to him, through an email address that only he could access.

The attorney general also wanted judges to provide feedback about potential candidates directly to him — something the judges’ association said violated the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government.

There was further controversy when one of the five candidates for the job, Regional Senior Justice Paul Currie, was charged last month with assault and assault causing bodily harm against his spouse.

Currie had made it to the interview stage of the process, according to an email obtained by the Star that Downey sent to the judges and justices of the peace in January. It’s unclear if Currie was still in the running by the time of his assault charges.

His next court date is May 23.