Kathlyn Mary Curtis was appointed to the Provincial Court of Manitoba on March 1, 2001. [1]
The Provincial Court of Manitoba hears cases relating to criminal law and family law and other statutes.
Curtis gained her law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1988. A period with the Prosecutions Branch was followed by her appointment as a magistrate. She presided over the summary conviction court, hearing guilty pleas and contested matters primarily related to highway traffic offences.
The University of Manitoba is a public research university in Manitoba, Canada. Its main campus is located in the Fort Garry neighbourhood of southern Winnipeg with other campuses throughout the city. Founded in 1877, it is Western Canada's first university. The university maintains a reputation as a top research-intensive post-secondary educational institution and conducts more research annually than any other university in the region.
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers. In other parts of the world, such as China, a magistrate was responsible for administration over a particular geographic area. Today, in some jurisdictions, a magistrate is a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, and typically deals with more minor or preliminary matters. In other jurisdictions, magistrates may be volunteers without formal legal training who perform a judicial role with regard to minor matters.
She has also worked as a probation officer, a juvenile counsellor at the Manitoba Youth Centre, a social worker and a cab driver.[ citation needed ]
Probation and Parole Officers play a role in the criminal justice systems by supervising offenders released from prison or sentenced to non-custodial sanctions such as community service. In some jurisdictions probation and parole officers are involved in presenting reports on offenders and making sentencing recommendation to courts of law.
