Catherine Rhinelander, a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, has been appointed a Judge of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario in Toronto.
Canada’s attorney general, David Lametti, announced Rhinelander’s appointment this week.
She previously oversaw complex prosecutions in an Ontario guns and gangs unit, the federal government stated, and was part of a team representing Ontario at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Appearing in the Justice in Pieces legal guest speaker series in April, Rhinelander told viewers: “My mother is a residential school survivor and her first language was Chipewyan. I do not speak my language. I have endeavoured to try but I’m just having some troubles with it now, in my older years, trying to figure it out.”
Called to the bar in 1993, Rhinelander has been a member of the Indigenous Bar Association and co-chaired the Indigenous Advisory Group to the Law Society of Ontario.
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“Outside of law, she worked with families focused on healing through land-based art, bringing awareness to the public of MMIWG2S+ loved ones, and with the board of governors of Humber College, the Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Race Relations, and various sports organizations for her children,” the federal government stated.
