New Judges Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice

Press Release

May 05, 2025

Attorney General

The Ontario government is pleased to announce the appointment of eleven new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective May 14, 2025.

Justice Pardeep Bhachu was called to the Ontario bar in 2009. She articled at the Kingston Crown Attorney’s Office and worked as an assistant Crown attorney in Hastings and Prince Edward County, where she prosecuted complex cases before the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. Justice Bhachu was the lead Intimate Partner Violence Crown and the lead Youth Crown, with carriage of all youth matters and prosecutions for Prince Edward County.

Justice Bhachu is an active member of her community. On the John Howard Society Board of Directors, she oversaw budgets, staffing, programming and community issues. Justice Bhachu also volunteered with the Ontario Justice Education Network, coaching a high school team during moot competitions and later, presiding over three rounds of trials at a moot competition in 2023 and 2024. Additionally, Justice Bhachu volunteered with the Hastings County Situation Table, a committee comprising service providers to assist individuals or groups in need within the community. Justice Bhachu also volunteered with the Youth Justice Advisory Committee, which provides care, education and activities for young persons in Hastings and Prince Edward County. Justice Bhachu graduated from the Joint L.L.B./J.D. Program at the University of Windsor law school and the University of Detroit Mercy.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Bhachu to Halton.

Justice Craig A. Brannagan was called to the Ontario bar in 2011. He began his legal career as a criminal defence attorney, specializing in the civilian oversight of police officers in matters of professional misconduct and criminal liability. He became an assistant Crown attorney in 2016, prosecuting a broad range of criminal offences in the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. Most recently, Justice Brannagan worked in the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Guns and Gangs Unit, where he prosecuted serious offences involving firearms and drug trafficking and led a multi-jurisdictional wiretap investigation into a criminal organization.

Justice Brannagan has wide-ranging volunteer experience. For several years, he worked pro bono as part of a legal team that petitioned the United Nations Rights Committee on behalf of a torture survivor. Through the American Bar Association and United Nations Development Programme, he served on a panel of experts that advised a post-conflict government on international best practices for the civilian oversight of its national police force. He has volunteered with the Canadian Red Cross (Toronto) as chair of both the International Humanitarian Law Working Group, and Conference Committee. Since 2021, Justice Brannagan has served on the Board of Directors for Transition House Toronto, a short-term supportive residence for men recovering from addiction challenges. Justice Brannagan graduated from the University of Windsor law school.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Brannagan to Barrie.

Justice Kimberly L. Doucett was called to the Ontario bar in 2002. After articling with Lerners LLP, Justice Doucett was associate counsel with Alfred A. Mamo & Associates until 2004, when she began working with Cohen Highley LLP as an associate until 2008. Justice Doucett returned to the firm in 2010 as a partner and later practice group leader maintaining a family-focused full legal practice. As part of her time with the firm, Justice Doucett acted as counsel for claimants through the Residential Schools Claims Process. She has appeared before the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. In 2014, Justice Doucett was appointed as a dispute resolution officer at the Superior Court of Justice, conducting case conferences and assisting in case resolutions. Justice Doucett also acted as counsel for the director of the Family Responsibility Office in London, Ontario and later as panel counsel for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.

Justice Doucett is a committed member of her community. Since 2020, she has been an active committee member of the London Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition as well as a board member with the Salvation Army based in London, Ontario. Justice Doucett has been involved in the funding and planning of Cohen Highley LLP’s involvement in the Pride London Festival. Justice Doucett graduated from the Western University law school.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Doucett to Windsor.

Justice L. Joleen Hiland was called to the Ontario bar in 2009. She worked as a criminal defence lawyer with the law office of James Hauraney between 2009 and 2014 in the Tri-County region. In 2014, Justice Hiland established her firm as a sole practitioner, with a focus on criminal law and defending clients charged with serious offences. While maintaining her defence practice, Justice Hiland was one of two agents for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in Peterborough for four years, prosecuting drug matters. In 2022, Justice Hiland joined the Peterborough Crown Attorney’s Office as an assistant Crown attorney, prosecuting a variety of offences and co-leading the Peterborough Intensive Serious Violent Crime Bail Team. She has appeared before the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice.

Justice Hiland is a committed volunteer in her community. She has been an executive member of the board of directors of Peterborough Youth Services, overseeing the implementation of the agency’s vital services such as clinical counselling and crisis services for youth aged ten to 18 and their families. Justice Hiland is also an operations committee member with the E Naaknind Anishinaabeg Indigenous Peoples’ Court (IPC), addressing issues and concerns directly related to the local IPC. Justice Hiland graduated from the University of Ottawa law school.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Hiland to Cobourg.

Justice Fraser Austin McCracken was called to the Ontario bar in 2011. He articled at the Toronto Crown Law Office before becoming an assistant Crown attorney and conducting complex prosecutions in Hamilton, Kitchener and Peel. Justice McCracken has appeared before the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Justice and the Ontario Review Board. In 2021, he joined the Crown Office of Strategic Initiatives, leveraging his experience to provide direction on new technical initiatives. Subsequently in 2022, Justice McCracken became Crown attorney for Haldimand County, managing the office as well as relationships with external stakeholders, including the community.

Justice McCracken is an active member of his community. He is on the board of directors with the John Howard Society of Hamilton-Burlington and Area, which supports people who come into conflict with the law and connects those individuals with education, employment opportunities and counselling services to help make positive changes in their lives. As an avid curler, he has been a member of the Burlington Golf and Country Club since 2014. Justice McCracken graduated from Western University law school.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice McCracken to Brampton.

Justice Brett Moodie was called to the Ontario bar in 2010. He began his legal career managing his own practice while working part time as a per diem assistant Crown attorney. In 2011, he joined the Crown attorney’s offices in Peel and later Hamilton, where he conducted complex prosecutions and regularly appeared before the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. Justice Moodie has also acted as counsel to the coroner at inquest proceedings and before the Ontario Review Board. In 2018, he was appointed deputy Crown attorney. Since 2022, Justice Moodie has served as Crown attorney in Brantford and Norfolk, where he led the office’s Indigenous justice initiatives and managed the operations of the Crown attorney’s office. Justice Moodie is also a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto, where he teaches a course on mental illness and the criminal justice system.

Justice Moodie has volunteered with student mock trials for over a decade and is a director of the Hamilton Lawyers’ Club. He serves on the board of Halton Food for Thought, a charity that provides nutritious meals and snacks to students. Beginning in 2016, he sat on the board of the John Howard Society of Hamilton-Burlington and Area, serving as its chair from 2019 to 2022. Outside of his professional work, he proudly coaches youth hockey and baseball and has served as chair of his children’s school parent council. He is a graduate of the Western University law school.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Moodie to Simcoe.

Justice Elizabeth Ann Moore was called to the Ontario bar in 2000. She started her legal career as an associate at Goodmans LLP, where she practiced civil litigation until 2001. Justice Moore spent a year working as legal counsel for Labatt Breweries before joining the criminal defence firm Cooper, Sandler & West as an associate. In 2006, Justice Moore joined the public sector as an assistant Crown attorney, prosecuting criminal offences. She then served as counsel at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Superior Court of Justice, providing legal advice and assistance to judges primarily on criminal cases. Since 2018, she has worked as senior criminal counsel and lead counsel at the Centre for Judicial Research and Education in the Ontario Court of Justice, where she provided legal, strategic and policy advice to the Chief Justice and the Judicial Executive.

Since 2008, Justice Moore has served as a mock trial coach and volunteer with the Ontario Justice Education Network. She was a founding member of the Redstone/Guilford Lake Gauntlet Challenge, a 10-kilometre community fundraising run for local charities and community services. Justice Moore graduated from the University of Toronto law school.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Moore to Newmarket.

Justice Alyssa Bain was called to the Ontario bar in 2002. She began her career articling with the Department of Justice in Toronto before working as a federal prosecutor with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada from 2002 to 2019. Throughout her 17-year tenure as a federal prosecutor, Justice Bain was responsible for prosecuting offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. In 2019, Justice Bain joined the Ministry of the Attorney General as an assistant Crown attorney. She served as a case management lead, trial litigator and mentor on the ministry’s Sexual Violence Advisory Group, supporting Crowns in the litigation of sexual offences.

Justice Bain is a member of the Stop Violence Against Women Committee for Perth County and the Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition — Huron, Perth, Bruce, Lambton. In 2024, she joined the board of directors of the Canadian Mental Health Services Association, Huron Perth Addiction and Mental Health Services. Since 2017, Justice Bain has been a committee member of the Ontario Judicial Education Network, providing coaching and mentoring support to high school students participating in annual mock trial competitions and outreach programs. Justice Bain graduated from the University of Ottawa law school.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Bain to Stratford.

Justice Christopher Owen Diana was called to the Ontario bar in 1999. He started his legal career as an articling student at the Ministry of the Attorney General in 1997, and later became an associate at WeirFoulds LLP, where he practiced in areas of civil litigation, employment law, construction law and professional negligence. Since 2005, Justice Diana has worked in the Legal Services Branch of the Ministry of the Solicitor General. As senior counsel, he has appeared at all levels of court in a wide array of civil, criminal, administrative, police misconduct and human rights matters.

Justice Diana served as a head coach to youth soccer teams in Warminster for ten years and as chair of the Orillia Secondary School Student Council from 2020 to 2023. Justice Diana has been a member and volunteered at the Am Shalom Synagogue since 2012. Justice Diana volunteered his legal expertise to create a litigation updates group on Facebook, educating and updating thousands of owners of an insolvent timeshare on legal developments of the proceedings. He graduated from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Diana to Barrie.

Justice Lynne Anne Saunders was called to the Ontario bar in 1991. Justice Saunders worked as duty counsel with Legal Aid Ontario before taking on the role as assistant Crown attorney from 1991 to 2011. She later worked as a deputy Crown attorney, managing the Barrie Crown Attorney’s Office until 2015. Since 2015, Justice Saunders has worked as Crown attorney for Simcoe County, where she maintains a caseload of major prosecutions and appears regularly in the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice in relation to criminal prosecutions.

Justice Saunders served as a lawyer-coach for eight years, coaching high school students for an annual county-wide mock trial competition held in the Barrie courthouse. She was team manager for the Barrie Women’s Hockey Association during the 2019/2020 season. Since 1991, she was a regular guest speaker at police training events, covering topics including sexual and domestic violence, interrogation and statement taking. Justice Saunders graduated from the Western University law school.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Saunders to Barrie.

Justice Michael Alexander Peppin Perlin was called to the Ontario bar in 2010. He was a law clerk at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and at the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice Perlin worked as an associate at Lax O’Sullivan Scott Lisus LLP before joining the Ministry of the Attorney General, first as an assistant Crown attorney, and then, from late 2012 until 2022, as Crown counsel at Crown Law Office – Criminal. In that role, he conducted criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. He was also constitutional issues coordinator for Ontario’s prosecution service. Between 2022 and early 2025, Justice Perlin was legal counsel to the Deputy Attorney General of Ontario, focusing on issues of criminal law and policy while collaborating with stakeholders from across the justice sector. At the time of his appointment, Justice Perlin had recently rejoined Crown Law Office – Criminal.

Justice Perlin is active in his community. Starting in 1999, he participated as a performer and composer in numerous events showcasing jazz and improvised music. He has regularly mentored law students and new lawyers and co-chaired the Crown Law Office – Criminal’s summer student program. He has been a guest lecturer to law students and presented to members of the legal profession on various issues relating to criminal and constitutional law. He has also volunteered as a board member with a community day care centre. Justice Perlin graduated from the Queen’s University Faculty of Law.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Perlin to Newmarket.

Additional Resources

• Read about the Ontario Court of Justice
• Read about the appointment of judges to the Ontario Court of Justice

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