They handled criminal law matters with province’s Ministry of the Attorney General
Sean Fraser, Canada’s justice minister and attorney general, has announced the appointments of Robert W. Wadden and Karen E. Pritchard as judges of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario in Cornwall and Sault Ste. Marie, respectively.
Wadden most recently sat as a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa. He replaces Justice John M. Johnston in Brockville, who elected to be a supernumerary judge as of Sept. 30, 2025. The vacancy is in Cornwall because Geoffrey B. Morawetz, chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court, transferred Justice Lia Bramwell from Cornwall to Brockville.
Before her appointment, Pritchard worked as an assistant Crown attorney at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General in Sault Ste. Marie. She takes the place of Justice Brian DeLorenzi in Sault Ste. Marie, who resigned as of Mar. 31, 2025.
“I wish Justices Wadden and Pritchard every success as they take on their new roles,” Fraser said in a news release. “I am confident they will serve the people of Ontario well as members of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario.”
The federal justice department’s news release provided more information regarding the two judicial appointees.
Wadden became a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice in April 2014. For the court, he co-chaired criminal law education and helped lead judicial programming delivery, including on sexual assault law and case management.
Before joining the bench, he spent two decades at the Ministry of the Attorney General in Ottawa. There, he prosecuted various criminal offences and conducted multiple jury trials, including those involving murders, dangerous offenders, and serious violence.
As an associate lawyer at Fasken Martineau in Toronto, Wadden practised litigation and handled civil, commercial, and insolvency matters.
Wadden served as an elected bencher of the Law Society of Ontario. He taught at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and in trial advocacy programs.
He earned admission to the Ontario bar in 1992. He received his law degree from the University of Toronto and his BA from Memorial University. He is from Newfoundland.
Pritchard has served as an assistant Crown attorney for the District of Algoma beginning in 2013 and as North Region Crown on the Ministry of the Attorney General’s sexual violence advisory group since 2024.
She commenced her legal career as an assistant Crown attorney in Kitchener and Sarnia. She then returned north, working in Manitoulin Island, and then in Sault Ste. Marie.
As an articling principal at Ontario’s law society, Pritchard delivered educational programming to police, prosecutors, sexual assault nurse examiners, probation officers, and victim support organizations.
She collaborated with the Canadian Mental Health Association Justice Program, the John Howard Society, and other justice system and community partners. She also supported the creation of the Gweyek Ji Bimoseng (Walking the Straight Road) Restorative Justice Program.
Pritchard joined the Ontario bar in 2010. She earned her JD and her BA in history from the University of Western Ontario. Born and raised in Northern Ontario, she considers Sault Ste. Marie her home.
