By Julius Melnitzer | June 7, 2022
Ontario Chief Justice George Strathy will retire on August 31, 2022, 11 months before his mandatory retirement date on his 75th birthday on July 23, 2023.
Strathy advised his judicial colleagues of the decision at a Court of Appeal meeting on Friday, June 3. He followed up with a “group message”, intended to “make sure that you hear this news from me”.
The Chief Justice, who was appointed in 2014, wrote that the “time is right for the Court of Appeal and it is right for me.” The Court, he noted, was “as healthy and vibrant as it has ever been”, having “made a successful leap into the digital age”.
Still, emerging from the “challenges of the pandemic”, he added, has created “an opportunity to chart a new course for the future of the Court”, in which a new Chief Justice could build on the Court’s achievements, set new priorities for the future, and implement them over the long term.
“The time is right for me because I have accomplished what I set out to achieve when I was appointed Chief Justice eight years ago,” Strathy wrote, pointing out that his “health is good” and he and his wife were “ready for some new adventures”.
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at [email protected] or https://legalwriter.net/contact.