Kofi Barnes

Last updated
Honourable Justice
Kofi N. Barnes
Judge of the Ontario Superior Court
Assumed office
8 February 2013
Personal details
Born Ghana
Parents
  • Samuel Obiba Kwamina Barnes (father)
  • Mrs. Cecilia Barnes (mother)
Alma mater Osgoode Hall Law School
Profession Judge
Known forExpert in Therapeutic Jurisprudence
Awards
  • Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal
  • The African-Canadian Achievement Awards for Excellence in Law

Justice Kofi N. Barnes is a Ghanaian-born judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Canada.

Contents

Early life and education

Kofi Barnes was born in Ghana to Samuel Kwamina Barnes and his wife Cecilia. [1] [2] [3] His primary school education was at the University Basic School, Legon. He then attended the Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School also in Legon, Ghana. [4] [5] He originally wanted to train in medicine but switched to law after a friend suggested he could not get into law school. [6] He obtained the BA (degree) from Trent University in 1988. He later completed the LL. B. degree at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University in 1991. [7]

Work

Barnes was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1993. He started working with the Department of Justice in Canada in the same year. He was appointed the deputy director of the Federal Prosecution Service, Ontario Watch in 2002. He was involved in the design and implementation of Canada's first Drug Treatment Court in 1998. He became Canada's 25th African-Canadian judge on 8 February 2004, making him one of Canada's youngest judges at the time. [6] [8] He became the first African-born Justice to be appointed to the bench in Canada. [9] [10] Kofi Barnes is the founder of the Metro West Youth Community Restoration Court, the Durham Mental Health and Drug Treatment Court and is also co-founder of Canada's first Drug Treatment Court. [1] He was Canada's first Drug Treatment Court prosecutor. [7] Barnes was appointed as a Judge of the Ontario Superior Court on 8 February 2013. [8]

Honours

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Ghana</span> Ghanaian public university

The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nii Amaa Ollennu</span> Jurist, judge, former Speaker of the Parliament and former Acting President of Ghana

Raphael Nii Amaa Ollennu was a jurist and judge who became a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 1962 to 1966, the acting President of Ghana during the Second Republic from 7 August 1970 to 31 August 1970 and the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana from 1969 to 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prempeh College</span> Secondary boarding school in Kumasi, Ghana

Prempeh College is a public secondary boarding school for boys located in Kumasi, the capital city of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. The school was founded in 1949 by the Asanteman traditional authority, the British Colonial Government, the Methodist Church Ghana and the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. The school is named after the King of Ashanti (Asantehene), Sir Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II, who donated the land on which the school was built, and was modeled on Eton College in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School</span> Boarding senior high school for boys

Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School (PRESEC) is a secondary boarding school for boys, it is located in Legon, Accra, Ghana. It was founded in 1938, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast. The Basel missionary-theologian, Nicholas Timothy Clerk (1862–1961), who served as the first Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast from 1918 to 1932, used his tenure to advocate for the establishment of the secondary school. The school has ties with its sister schools, Aburi Girls' Senior High School and Krobo Girls Senior High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nana Akufo-Addo</span> President of Ghana since 2017

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a Ghanaian politician who has served as the president of Ghana since 2017. He previously served as Attorney General from 2001 to 2003 and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007 under the Kufuor-led administration.

The University of Ghana Primary School is a primary school located on the campus of the University of Ghana in Legon, Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It was established at a temporary location in Achimota in 1955 to educate the children of university faculty and staff.

Robert James Sharpe, OC, FRSC is a Canadian lawyer, author, academic, and judge. He was dean of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law from 1990 to 1995 and a judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario from 1999 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accra Academy</span> Male second cycle institution in Kaneshie, Ghana

Accra Academy is a boys' secondary school located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It admits both boarding and day students. The school was established as a private school in 1931 and gained the status of a Government-Assisted School in 1950. It is the oldest existing secondary school to have been privately founded in the Gold Coast.

Tsatsu Tsikata is a Ghanaian academic and lawyer. He is also a former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. He is a notable affiliate and legal counsel to the National Democratic Congress and regarded as one of the leading members of the political party.

Nicholas Yaw Boafo Adade (1927–2013) was a former supreme court judge and Attorney General of the Republic of Ghana. He was the Attorney General of Ghana between 14 April 1969 to 1970 in the Busia government. He was also Member of Parliament for Asante Akim South constituency in the 2nd Ghanaian Republic.

Vincent Cyril Richard Arthur Charles (V.C.R.A.C.) Crabbe was a Ghanaian jurist and public servant. He was a judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 1970 to 1972 and from 1980 to 1982. Before his appointment on the court, he formed and headed a permanent electoral commission to conduct the 1969 Ghanaian Election. He chaired the Constituent Assembly of 1979 that deliberated over and presented a constitution for Ghana's Third Republic before his reappointment to the supreme court.

Samuel Kofi Date-Bah is an academic and a former Supreme Court Judge in Ghana and the Gambia.

Henrietta Joy Abena Nyarko Mensa-Bonsu, is a Supreme Court Judge of the Republic of Ghana. She was nominated by president Nana-Akufo-Addo. She is the 5th female member of the Court. Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, she was a Ghanaian law professor who served as a member of the United Nations Independent Panel On Peace Operations.

Alfred Augustus Akainyah (1907-1988) was a Ghanaian lawyer and jurist. He was a barrister-at-law and a Supreme Court Judge during the first republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nii Ashie Kotey</span> Ghanaian judge (born 1953)

Nii Ashie Kotey is a Ghanaian judge and academic. He served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana from 3 October 2018 until his retirement on 28 July 2023.

Alexander Kobina Baah Ampiah is a retired Ghanaian Supreme Court Judge. He served on the Supreme Court bench from 1993 to 2003. Prior to serving on the Supreme Court bench, he was a lawyer who rose through the ranks as a judge of the High Court to the bench of the Appeals Court of Ghana.

Kofi Acquah-Dadzie is a Ghanaian academic, jurist and writer based in Botswana. He was the Assistant Registrar and Master of the High Court of Botswana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justice Ofori</span> Ghanaian Chartered Insurer and former Commissioner of Insurance of Ghana

Dr. Justice Yaw Ofori is a Ghanaian Chartered Insurance Professional and the current Commissioner of Insurance of the National Insurance Commission of Republic of Ghana since July 2017. He was appointed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2017 to replace Ms Lydia Lariba Bawa.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "LEPH 2018 - Toronto Canada 21 -24 Oct: The Fourth International Conference on Law Enforcement & Public Health". leph2018toronto.com. Centre for Law Enforcement & Public Health. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  2. ↑ "OBITUARIO Samuel Kwamina Barnes FALLECIÓ EN 15 OCTUBRE, 2012". dignitymemorial.com. Dignity Memorial. 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  3. ↑ "SAMUEL KWAMINA BARNES". legacy.com. Legacy. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  4. ↑ "In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen - Roll Call Class of '81". Daily Graphic (149753). 2 June 2006.
  5. ↑ Asmah, Kobby, ed. (2 March 2022). "Ɔdadeɛ '81 - Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of leaving Presec- Roll Call, Class of '81". Daily Graphic. Accra: Graphic Communications Group Ltd (21827): 8. ISSN   0855-1529.
  6. 1 2 "Ghanaian-born now provincial judge in Canada". ghanaweb.com. GhanaWeb. 9 March 2004. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 Williams, Dawn P. (2006). Who's who in Black Canada 2: Black Success and Black Excellence in Canada : a Contemporary Directory. Toronto: d.p.williams and associates. p. 53. ISBN   9780973138429 . Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 "2014 Excellence in Law Award – Justice Kofi N. Barnes". africancanadianachievementawards.com. African Canadian Achievement Awards. 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "OUR CANADIAN JURISTS". theace.me. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  10. ↑ Hamalengwa, Munyonzwe (6 March 2014). "Nelson Mandela and the Canadian legal and judicial profession". pambazuka.org. Retrieved 12 July 2020. He is the first African-born Justice to be appointed in the history of Canada.
  11. ↑ "2014 Bryden Alumni Awards - Kofi N. Barnes, LLB '91 (Redefine the Possible)". youtube.com. York University Alumni. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  12. ↑ Justice Kofi Barnes, Mr (21 November 2017). People, Places and Things: Inspirational Voices from Canada's Drug Treatment Courts Paperback – November 28, 2017. FriesenPress. ISBN   978-1460286500.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.