Dennis R. O'Connor, was the Associate Chief Justice of Ontario from 2001–2012 and sat on the

Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently mistakenly referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal) (ONCA is the abbreviation for its neutral citation) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Ha ...

from 1998–2012. O'Connor attended De La Salle College and

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

in Toronto. He practised law from 1973 until 1976. From 1976 to 1980 he became a teacher at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

and from there went to practise litigation at Borden, Elliot in Toronto. He was a negotiator for the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

in the Yukon land claim debate. He was eventually appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1998 and was elevated to Associate Chief Justice of Ontario in 2001. He was appointed Commissioner in the Walkerton Inquiry in 2000, and was Commissioner in the

Maher Arar Maher Arar () (born 1970) is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who has resided in Canada since 1987. Arar was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in September 2002 on his way ...

Inquiry from 2004 to 2006. On August 12, 2013, Toronto police chief

Bill Blair William "Bill" Sterling Blair (born April 9, 1954) is a Canadian politician and former police officer who served as the Minister of National Defence (Canada), Minister of National Defence from 2023 to 2025. A member of the Liberal Party of Can ...

announced that he had requested O'Connor conduct an internal review into the use of force by police. On June 30, 2016, O'Connor was made an

Officer of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian national order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the centennial of Canadian Confederation, the ...

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

David Johnston David Johnston or Dave Johnston may refer to: Politics *David Johnston (governor general) David Lloyd Johnston (born June 28, 1941) is a Canadian academic, author, and statesman who served as the 28th governor general of Canada from 2010 to ...

for "his service to the legal profession and for his commitment to justice as a commissioner of the Walkerton and Arar inquiries." In 2016, he was made a member of the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Executive Council ...

. , O'Connor was senior counsel at

Borden Ladner Gervais Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (abbreviated as BLG) is a leading, full-service law firm in Canada with almost 900 lawyers, intellectual property agents and other professionals. With two hundred years of history going back to the 1823 founding of McMas ...

. That month, he submitted a report to the

Law Society of Ontario The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; ) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LS ...

concluding that a 2024 salary increase for the regulator's CEO made by its former treasurer and current judge Jacqueline Horvat without consulting the society's benchers was problematic.

References

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Official Court Biography

References

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See also