NORTHWEST TERRITORIES JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT ANNOUNCED

OTTAWA, October 21, 2011 — The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointment:

The Honourable Karan M. Shaner, Assistant Deputy Minister with the Department of Justice of the Northwest Territories in Yellowknife, is appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories (Yellowknife) to replace Mr. Justice D.M. Cooper, who resigned as of March 3, 2011.

Madam Justice Shaner received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary in 1986 and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta in 1990. She was admitted to the Northwest Territories Bar in 1991.

Madam Justice Shaner joined the Department of Justice in 1996. She was Assistant Deputy Minister from 2008; Director, Legal Division from 2003 to 2007; and legal counsel from 1996 to 1999 and from 2001 to 2003. She was an associate with Johnson, Gullberg, Wiest and MacPherson (now Lawson, Lundell) from 1991 to 1996. In addition to her management roles, her main areas of practice were labour law, human rights, administrative law and general litigation.

Madam Justice Shaner has been a member of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories since 1991 and a member of the Canadian Bar Association. She has been a coach with the Learn to Skate Program of the Yellowknife Speed Skating Club since 2007. She has been active in various clubs such as Aurora Minor Soccer, Great Slave Skating Centre and Yellowknife Minor Hockey.

This appointment is effective immediately.

-30-

Ref.:

• Julie Vaux
  Director of Communications
  Office of the Minister of Justice
  613-992-4621

• Media Relations
  Department of Justice
  613-957-4207