Justice Elizabeth Bennett is judge of the

British Columbia Court of Appeal The British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) is the highest appellate court in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1910 following the 1907 Court of Appeal Act. The BCCA hears appeals from the Supreme Court of Britis ...

. During her term on the

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, she presided over two notable corruption trials.

Early life and career

Bennett was educated at

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and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

Law School. She served with the

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6th Field Engineer Squadron
She was named a

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in 1994 and appointed to the Supreme Court of BC in 1997. She was appointed to the

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on June 23, 1999.

Casinogate

On August 29, 2002, she acquitted former

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Glen Clark Glen David Clark (born November 22, 1957) is a Canadian business executive and former politician who served as the 31st premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999. Early life and education Clark attended independent Roman Catholic schools, n ...

of all criminal charges related to home renovations and other personal benefits received from a constituent, Dimitrios Pilarinos, who was applying for a casino license. The judge said Clark exercised poor judgment but ruled that "there is nothing in his conduct that crosses the line from an act of folly to behaviour calling for criminal sanctions." The ruling came five years and a day after her appointment to the Supreme Court on August 28, 1997. The "Casinogate" scandal came to public attention when news media filmed the

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(RCMP) conducting a search warrant inside the private home of the then-Premier.

Graham extradition

In 2004, Bennett ruled that John Graham could be extradited to the

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for trial for the 1975 murder of

Anna Mae Aquash Annie Mae Aquash (Mi'kmaq name ''Naguset Eask'') (March 27, 1945 – mid-December 1975 ) was a First Nations activist and Mi'kmaq tribal member from Nova Scotia, Canada. Aquash moved to Boston in the 1960s and joined other First Nations and Indi ...

, one of the most prominent members of the

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BC Rail Corruption Trial

In 2007, she began proceedings on the Basi-Virk Affair where the Minister of Finance's politically appointed assistant was charged with the sale of benefits related to the province's sale of

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, the publicly owned railway. The scandal came to public attention when news media filmed the RCMP conducting a

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inside the BC Legislature building. The trial is ongoing. On May 15, 2009, she was appointed by federal Justice Minister and Attorney-General Rob Nicholson to the

, elevating her from the BC Supreme Court. She remained on the Basi-Virk case still in Supreme Court, presiding over the pre-trial hearings until replaced by Anne MacKenzie. Special Prosecutor Bill Berardino said her appointment will not affect the timing of the case, nor slow it down further.

Publications

Justice Bennett co-authored the 2006 revisions for a guide for judges on giving instructions to the jury, the ''Canadian Criminal Jury Instructions (CRIMJI)''''Canadian Criminal Jury Instructions (CRIMJI)'' — Fourth Edition
.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Elizabeth (Judge) Canadian women judges Judges in British Columbia Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Lawyers in British Columbia Canadian King's Counsel Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni Judges of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada