By Ministry of the Attorney General, Ontario
Attorney General Doug Downey announced the appointment of three judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective March 9, 2023.
Justice Frances Brennan was called to the bar in 2006. She joined the London Crown Attorney’s office in 2021 where she served as a member of the trial and case management teams. From 2019 to 2021, Justice Brennan worked full time for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and prosecuted drug offences in London and Stratford. Prior to 2019, Justice Brennan practiced criminal law in London and Stratford.
Justice Brennan was a part-time faculty member and coach of the Gale Cup Moot at the University of Western Ontario from 2019 to 2021. She has a particular interest in children’s mental health and served as a board member from 2019 to 2022 for Humana, a non-profit organization that provides mental health services to youth. From 2006 to 2009, she sat on the board of the Huron-Perth Centre for Children and Youth. She also sat on the board of the Stratford Public Library from 2006 to 2008.
Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve has assigned Justice Brennan to Kitchener.
Justice Christine Mainville was called to the bar in Quebec in 2007 and in Ontario in 2011. She was a partner at Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP, practicing criminal, penal and disciplinary law. There, she conducted bail hearings, pre-trial proceedings, preliminary inquiries, trials and appeals in both English and French. Previously, Justice Mainville was senior counsel at the Independent Street Checks Review, where she engaged in consultations with the public and organizations subject to an Ontario regulation on routine police controls. Justice Mainville previously practiced criminal law in Montreal and was a law clerk for the Honourable Justice Ian Binnie at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Since 2019, Justice Mainville has been a mentor at McGill University’s Women in Leadership Mentorship Program, and she also volunteered for the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. Prior to this, Justice Mainville was a board member at the Elizabeth Fry Society of Quebec, an organization that helps women involved in the criminal justice system looking to improve their lives. She was a founding member and an advisory board member of Innocence McGill, a legal clinic investigating wrongful conviction claims.
Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve has assigned Justice Mainville to Toronto.
Justice Thomas Andrew Stinson was called to the bar in 1995. Justice Stinson was a regional senior justice of the peace in London, administering all justices of the peace in the region while sitting for trials, particularly those in French. Previously, Justice Stinson was a local administrative justice of the peace for Kitchener and Guelph. Before this, Justice Stinson was a lawyer and director of prosecutions for the Region of Waterloo, where he supervised paralegals who were responsible for prosecuting offences. Justice Stinson has taught at the Municipal Law Clerk Program at Conestoga College and worked as a part-time provincial and federal Crown attorney. He previously practiced at Gowlings WLC in Kitchener and McElderry & Morris in Guelph.
Since 1994, Justice Stinson has been involved with many musical and theatre groups in the Guelph and Kitchener area, including Royal City Musical Productions, Elmira Theatre Company and Menno Singers. Justice Stinson served as a volunteer judge for the Ontario Justice Education Network’s high school moot court program in 2017 and 2018. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Guelph Wellington and organized fundraising support to various international and local projects.
Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve has assigned Justice Stinson to London.
