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Two new judges, including the first Mi’kmaw woman to join the judiciary, have been appointed to the provincial and family court.

Catherine Benton (LLB ’93), a lawyer with Nova Scotia Legal Aid, has become the second Mi’kmaw to serve as a judge in Nova Scotia. Ronda van der Hoek (LLB ’96), a prosecutor and team leader with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, was also appointed to the bench on Jan. 23 by Governor in Council on the recommendation of acting Attorney General and Minister of Justice Michel Samson.

"These appointments are strong steps toward the greater diversification that is needed in our judiciary," says Schulich School of Law Dean Camille Cameron. "Indigenous and Black citizens need to see themselves reflected in our institutions, and appointments like this will help make that happen.”

Benton, from Auburndale, Lunenburg County, has been a lawyer for 22 years. She has worked as a researcher with the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and the Mi’kmaq Grand Council before getting her law degree from Dalhousie. Benton is a former board member with the Micmac Native Friendship Centre and the Mi’kmaq Justice Institute, a forerunner of the Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network, and a member of the board of directors of the Tawaak Housing Association.

Van der Hoek, from Windsor, Hants County, has been practicing law for 19 years. Before joining the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, she was a counsel with Nova Scotia Legal Aid in Windsor and Halifax. She is also the federal co-chair of the Justice Committee of the Mi’kmaq–Nova Scotia–Canada Tripartite Forum.

Professor Naiomi Metallic, Dalhousie's inaugural Chancellor's Chair in Aboriginal Law and Policy, told The Canadian Press that she's "elated" about the appointments. "We've been saying in the media there needs to be more diverse appointmetns, and it apepars that hasn't fallen on deaf ears."