J. Michael MacDonald | |
---|---|
22nd Chief Justice of Nova Scotia | |
In office December 31, 2004 –January 31, 2019 | |
Nominated by | Paul Martin |
Preceded by | Constance Glube |
Succeeded by | Duncan Beveridge (acting) |
Personal details | |
Born | 1954 (age 70–71) [1] Sydney,Nova Scotia |
J. Michael MacDonald ONS (born 1954) is a Canadian lawyer who previously served as the 22nd Chief Justice of Nova Scotia from 2004 until 2019.
Raised in the Whitney Pier neighbourhood of Sydney,Nova Scotia,MacDonald received a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University in 1976 and then graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1979. [2] [3] He received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Cape Breton University in 2018. [2]
MacDonald began his career working as a lawyer in the Sydney,Nova Scotia office of Boudreau,Beaton &LaFosse,which later merged with Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales. [1]
In 1995,MacDonald was appointed to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia,and was elevated to Associate Chief Justice in 1998. He became the 22nd Chief Justice of Nova Scotia and the Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal on December 31,2004,replacing Constance Glube. The Honourable J. Michael MacDonald retired as Chief Justice of Nova Scotia,effective January 31,2019. [4]
On July 23,2020 it was announced by Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey and federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair that MacDonald would serve on a 3-person Independent Review Panel concerning the RCMP response to the mass shooting that occurred in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19,2020. [5] Families of the 22 victims killed during the shooting reacted to the announcement with disappointment,as they had been calling for a full public inquiry. [6] [7]
In 2024,MacDonald was made a Member of the Order of Nova Scotia. [8]
On the morning of 6 December 1917,the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the harbour of Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada. Mont-Blanc,laden with high explosives,caught fire and exploded,devastating the Richmond district of Halifax. At least 1,782 people were killed,largely in Halifax and Dartmouth,by the blast,debris,fires,or collapsed buildings,and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time. It released the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ).
Hiram Blanchard was a Nova Scotia lawyer,politician,and the first premier of Nova Scotia. Blanchard won election to the Nova Scotia legislative assembly in Inverness in 1859 as a Liberal.
The Schulich School of Law is the law school of Dalhousie University in Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada. Founded in 1883 as Dalhousie Law School,it is the oldest university-based common law school in Canada. It adopted its current name in October 2009 after receiving a $20-million endowment from Canadian businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich.
The Westray Mine was a Canadian coal mine in Plymouth,Nova Scotia. Westray was owned and operated by Curragh Resources Incorporated,which obtained both provincial and federal government money to open the mine,and supply the local electric power utility with coal.
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is a superior court in the province of Nova Scotia.
The Court of Appeal for Nova Scotia is the highest appeal court in the province of Nova Scotia,Canada. There are currently 8 judicial seats including one assigned to the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia. At any given time there may be one or more additional justices who sit as supernumerary justices. The court sits in Halifax,which is the capital of Nova Scotia. Cases are heard by a panel of three judges. They publish approximately 80 cases each year.
The Order of Nova Scotia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Instituted on August 2,2001,when Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman granted Royal Assent to the Order of Nova Scotia Act,the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour current or former Nova Scotia residents for conspicuous achievements in any field,being thus described as the highest honour amongst all others conferred by the Nova Scotia Crown.
Lorne Otis Clarke,was a Canadian lawyer and Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
The Sydney River McDonald's murders was a shooting spree and armed robbery that occurred on May 7,1992,at a McDonald's restaurant in Sydney River,Nova Scotia,Canada.
Constance Rachelle Glube,was the 21st Chief Justice of Nova Scotia and first female Chief Justice in Canada.
Graham J. Steele is a Canadian lawyer,author,and former politician,having represented the constituency of Halifax Fairview in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 2001 to 2013 for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party. In January 2021,he began service as the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nunavut.
The Nova Scotia order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the province of Nova Scotia. It has no legal standing but is used to dictate ceremonial protocol at events of a provincial nature.
Michael Gilbert Baker,was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Lunenburg in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly between 1998 and 2009. He was a Progressive Conservative.
The Nunn Commission of Inquiry was a landmark public inquiry into Canada's youth criminal justice system. It was chaired by the Hon. D. Merlin Nunn,a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. The Nunn Commission examined the events of October 14,2004,in which Theresa McEvoy,of Halifax,Nova Scotia,a 52-year-old teacher's aide and mother of three boys,was killed when the car she was travelling in was broadsided by another vehicle. The other car had been stolen and was being driven at high speeds by a serial young offender who had been mistakenly released from jail just two days previously.
Jamie William Sutherland Saunders is a former Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission was established in Nova Scotia,Canada in 1967 to administer the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission is the first commission in Canada to engage a restorative dispute resolution process.
Bruce MacKinnon is a Canadian editorial cartoonist for The Chronicle Herald in Halifax,Nova Scotia. He is the recipient of several awards of excellence for his work.
On April 18 and 19,2020,51-year-old Gabriel Wortman committed multiple shootings and set fires at sixteen locations in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia,killing twenty-two people and injuring three others before he was shot and killed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in the community of Enfield. The attacks are the deadliest shooting rampage in Canadian history,exceeding the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal,where fourteen women were killed.
The 2020 Mi'kmaq lobster dispute is an ongoing lobster fishing dispute between Sipekne'katik First Nation members of the Mi'kmaq and non-Indigenous lobster fishers mainly in Digby County and Yarmouth County,Nova Scotia. The dispute relates to interpretations of R v Marshall,a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada ruling upholding the Halifax Treaties,empowering Indigenous Canadians the right to fish. Non-Indigenous fishers negatively reacted to off-season fishing activities of a self-regulated Indigenous lobster fishery,mainly citing concerns of potential overfishing.