THE IBA CELEBRATES THE APPOINTMENT OF JUSTICE CATHERINE H. RHINELANDER TO THE SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE OF ONTARIO
Ottawa, ONT – Please join the Indigenous Bar Association in Canada (the “IBA”) in congratulating IBA member Justice Catherine H. Rhinelander on her recent appointment to the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario.
Justice Rhinelander is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in Treaty #8 territory and the daughter of a residential school survivor. After obtaining her Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University, she was called to the Ontario bar in 1993. Justice Rhinelander began her remarkable legal career as a criminal defence counsel and opened her own practice in 1996 and quickly established an impressive reputation as a formidable opponent who left the battle in the courtroom.
In 2007, Justice Rhinelander joined the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Guns and Gangs Unit, where she oversaw large-scale and complex prosecutions. She took a secondment to be Lead Counsel for the Criminal Law Division as part of the Joint Inquiry Team that represented Ontario at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). She has also served on the Ontario Death Investigation Oversight Council and the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association Committee on Diversity and Inclusivity.
Justice Rhinelander is a leading figure within the Ontario bar and a prominent leader in Indigenous issues. She has served as Co-Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group to the Law Society of Ontario, and in April 2023 was elected as a Bencher for the Law Society of Ontario. Throughout her career, she has been a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto, presented at conferences, and helped design courses delivered to Crown Attorneys in Ontario.
Outside of law, she has worked with families focused on healing through land-based art, bringing public awareness to MMIWG2S+ loved ones, and in the past sat on the Board of Governors of Humber College, the Toronto Mayor's Committee on Race Relations, and various sporting organizations on behalf of her children.
The IBA has long advocated for increased representation of Indigenous voices at all levels of court, in part because it is important for Indigenous Peoples to see themselves represented in the judiciary, but also because a greater understanding of Indigenous law is critical to achieving meaningful justice for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. As is undoubtedly true for the appointment of Justice Rhinelander, the IBA believes that any candidate for the Canadian judiciary must be fully aware of the desirable and necessary systemic changes that are needed to ensure justice for Indigenous Peoples within Canada’s ongoing process of reconciliation. The legal knowledge, Indigenous perspectives, and breadth of experience that Justice Rhinelander brings to the Ontario judiciary are sure to benefit the provincial administration of law.
The IBA extends our compliments and congratulations to Justice Catherine H. Rhinelander on her momentous and well-earned appointment to the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario.
The Indigenous Bar Association is a national association comprised of Indigenous lawyers (practicing and non-practicing), legal academics and scholars, articling clerks and law students, including graduate and post-graduate law students. We are mandated to promote the advancement of legal and social justice for Indigenous Peoples in Canada and the reform of laws and policies affecting Indigenous Peoples.