Communities Brinton: Woman and Catherine Benton

communities brinton: The appointments come just two months after the province appointed the first Mi'kmaq woman, Catherine Benton, and the third black woman, Ronda van der Hoek, to the provincial and family courts after years of lobbying for greater judicial diversity from the province's black and indigenous communities, according to Brandon Sun. Brinton is a black woman who has worked in legal aid for 15 years, while Sakalauskas, who is gay, is a Department of Justice lawyer who most recently practised in the child protection field and has worked nationally on LGBTQ issues. Premier Stephen McNeil announced the appointments Friday of Rickcola Brinton, Amy Sakalauskas, Samuel Moreau and Rosalind Michie, bringing the number of full-time provincial and family court judges to 38, of which 18 are women and five are black. Moreau is a black man who works with Nova Scotia Legal Aid's Port Hawkesbury office and has practised law for 18 years, and Michie has been a Crown counsel with the public prosecution service for 16 years. It's an important step in reconciliation. The premier said in an interview that it was important to him when he took office in 2013 to mould a judiciary that better reflects the province's diversity. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.