Fredericton gets new provincial court judge

Mélanie Poirier LeBlanc fills vacancy created by retirement of Judge Kenneth Oliver, who called it quits just before a judicial council misconduct hearing last month

A new face will be presiding over cases in provincial court in Fredericton, as the New Brunswick government announced a new appointment Thursday.

Mélanie Poirier LeBlanc has been named to the provincial court bench and will sit in Fredericton, New Brunswick Justice Minister Hugh Flemming announced in a news release.

There’s been a vacancy in provincial court in Fredericton since Judge Kenneth Oliver was suspended with pay Oct. 3, 2022, pending a judicial council hearing into misconduct.

He subsequently retired Nov. 5, 2023.

Mélanie Poirier LeBlanc (Photo: Submitted)

“Ms. Poirier LeBlanc has a strong legal background and is a skilled lawyer with an excellent reputation,” Flemming said in the release. 

“I am confident her expertise and professionalism will be a welcome addition to the judiciary.”

Most recently, the newly minted judge had served as the province’s deputy attorney general in charge of public prosecution services, the release said.

Poirier LeBlanc graduated from Mount Allison University with a bachelor of arts in 2000 and then went onto law school at l’Université de Moncton, graduating in 2003, the release said. She was called to the bar in 2006. 

Her appointment brings the number of full-time provincial court judges in the province to 24, the Department of Justice and Public Safety said in the release, and that includes the chief judge and the associate chief judge of the provincial court.

There are also seven supernumerary judges and three per diem judges.

All applications to become a provincial court judge are assessed by provincial judicial appointment review advisers, the release said, and those advisers represent the bench, the bar and the general public. 

They consider the professional and other qualifications of each candidate in carrying out their assessments, it said, and the appointment process also includes interviews by a committee composed of New Brunswick Chief Justice Marc Richard, the chief judge and the associate chief judge of the provincial court - Judge Marco Cloutier and Judge Brian McLean, respectively - along with a member of the general public and a senior member of the legal profession.

Events leading to the vacancy

Oliver remained on suspension with pay from the time Cloutier announced the move until early last month.

The impugned judge’s judicial council hearing, after several postponements, was scheduled to take place behind closed doors in early November 2023, but Oliver resigned from the bench and retired effective the day before the proceeding was to get underway.

Since he was no longer a judge, the judicial council lost jurisdiction over Oliver, ending the disciplinary process.

Oliver was suspended as a result of out-of-court conversations he had with two Fredericton Police Force officers who had been witnesses in the trial of Scott Alexander Morrison, 41, of Geary, on nine Aug. 7. 2021, charges, including possession of hard drugs for the purpose of trafficking.

Oliver was presiding over the trial, and he contacted the police officers to make further inquiries about a search of a vehicle in the case, one the defence had challenged.

That misconduct - which Oliver had admitted from the bench had occurred - came to the attention of a prosecutor weeks later, and the Crown’s office informed Morrison’s defence lawyer.

That lawyer, Ben Reentovich with New Brunswick Legal Aid, then filed motions with the court seeking Oliver’s recusal and a stay of proceedings, which would halt the prosecution against Morrison.

But on Oct. 3, 2022, Oliver declined to recuse himself and dismissed the motion for a stay of proceedings. Instead he declared a mistrial, restarting the prosecution against Morrison from square one.

The disgraced judge was suspended that same day.

Another judge assigned to the case also dismissed the motion of a stay, but the New Brunswick Court of Appeal overturned that decision, noting a stay was the only way to restore public confidence in the administration of justice, given the egregious nature of Oliver’s misconduct.

Note: An earlier version of this story indicated Poirier LeBlanc attended law school at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, but that was based on erroneous information from the government news release.

Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.