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Two years after returning from Nunavut, �鶹����’s Legal Aid Director Susan Charlesworth (Law’81) is making a return as a federal justice.

 

Justice Charlesworth was appointed to the bench on June 21 alongside fellow �鶹����’s Law graduate Christian Lyons (Law’02). It’s a role that her time at �鶹����’s Legal Aid has made her distinctly well suited for thanks to Nunavut’s distinctive court structure. 

 

“Unlike most jurisdictions in Canada, in Nunavut there is only one level of court: the Nunavut Court of Justice,” she explains. “Judges do everything normally divided into two or more courts. In Nunavut, the one court – and its justices – do everything! I will be looking at cases ranging from theft with a guilty plea to murder requiring a jury trial, from family law and estates to constitutional issues.”

This breadth of scope and judgment is something that years of work supervising law students at �鶹����’s Legal Aid has prepared Charlesworth for. “I love criminal law, but my job here has really prepared me for this role,” she says. “As the Director of �鶹����’s Legal Aid, I work with law students on files ranging from landlord-tenant issues to small claims court, traffic matters – an entire gamut of issues that will have relevance. This ability to accumulate a wide variety of experience and expertise while working with students and the public in a pro bono context will definitely be a benefit.”

 

The call to the bench came not entirely unexpectedly – “I got a call earlier in June about CSIS security clearance, which gave me an inkling,” Charlesworth laughs – but was still in some ways abrupt. “I got the call at 3:30 on Thursday afternoon,” she says. “They told me I was a judge – the order had been signed that morning. That’s how it happens. They don’t ask ‘are you sure’?”

The announcement has left Charlesworth, "a bit nervous, a bit overwhelmed, but mostly happy and excited". This new position will mean stepping back from her role with �鶹����'s Legal Aid, as an appointed judge cannot provide legal advice. 

 

Sill, she says she is looking forward to the next stage of a journey that began in 2013 with a first trip to the north – and now, almost five years later, returning to help shape its judicial future.