She has served as a local administrative justice of the peace since 2023
Jill Ellen Morris will become the Ontario Court of Justice’s regional senior justice of the peace to the Northeast Region on April 2.
In this role, she will advise and aid the associate chief justice/coordinator of justices of the peace and the regional senior judge on matters related to justices of the peace. She was first appointed to the court in 2010, sitting in Sault Ste. Marie; since 2023, she has served as the local administrative justice of the peace.
Morris has sat on committees tackling accessibility, emergency management, security, and stakeholder engagement. She began mentoring new appointees to the court in 2021 and has presented at mentorship conferences.
Prior to joining the Ontario Court of Justice, she offered information, support, referrals, and advocacy for victims and witnesses of crime under the Victim/Witness Assistance Program. She received her master of social work from Grand Valley State University, at which she was a professor in the postgraduate social work program from 2010 to 2011. She taught social work and social welfare at Algoma University as a sessional professor.
Morris helped launch the Neighbours, Friends and Families initiative in her community to raise awareness about violence against women. She was a facilitator for the Kanawayhitowin Indigenous campaign espousing a traditional and cultural approach to community healing and wellness.
She was a social worker for the Victoria Order of Nurses’ bereavement program and spent seven years on the Algoma Council on Domestic Violence, where she planned conferences and created public education materials.
Ontario attorney general Doug Downey announced Morris’ appointment last week. Earlier this month, the Ontario Court of Justice also said Gordon Omar Akilie, Laurie Ann Gonet, Jayme Lesperance, Heather Dorretta Palin, and Lindsey Ann Jessica Santerre would be joining the bench as judges on February 26.
Last year, the court named Gregory John Fantino and John Clayton Domm as regional senior justices of the peace to the Toronto and Central East regions, respectively.
