Marva J. Smith, was appointed to the

Provincial Court of Manitoba The Provincial Court of Manitoba (french: Cour provinciale du Manitoba) is the lower trial court of the Province of Manitoba. It has mainly a criminal jurisdiction, as well as limited concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of King's Bench in m ...

on October 28, 1999.

Law career

Smith obtained her law degree from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

) in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She practiced law for 21 years, including six years in private practice, three years as a consultant in

labour relations Labor relations is a field of study that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In an international context, it is a subfield of labor history that studies the human relations with regard to work in its broadest ...

and

pay equity Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full ...

with Manitoba Labour and 13 years with the Constitutional Law Branch of Manitoba Justice. Smith served as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba for two years and has been involved in a variety of community organizations, including the Robert A. Steen Community Centre board, the Westminster Tot Lot board and the Community Unemployed Help Centre. She also served as senior counsel with the federal Department of Justice and as vice-president of the Manitoba branch of the

Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annual Meeting was he ...

. She has handled both criminal law and civil matters at all court levels, including cases involving issues such as domestic violence,

gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

and the sexual assault of children.

Personal life

In 2010, Smith's adopted daughter Jessica was sentenced for using

pepper spray Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, or capsicum spray is a lachrymatory agent (a compound that irritates the eyes to cause a burning sensation, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing, riot control, ...

to commit two

robberies Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

in Manitoba; due to Smith's judicial position, sentencing was carried out in the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.

References

Government of Manitoba news release
(accessed August 3, 2007) Judges in Manitoba University of Manitoba alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Canadian women judges Living people Robson Hall alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{Canada-law-bio-stub