Ontario Court of Justice adds seven judges, including Isabel Blanchard, Joseph Dart
Doug Downey, Ontario’s attorney general, has announced the appointments of two new associate judges to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and seven new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice as of Aug. 13, 2025.
Geoffrey B. Morawetz, the Superior Court’s chief justice, assigned the new appointees as follows:
On the other hand, Sharon Nicklas, the Ontario Court of Justice’s chief justice, assigned the new appointees as follows:
Bulletins from the provincial government provided more information on the newly appointed Superior Court associate judges and the Ontario Court of Justice judges.
Kriwetz graduated from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and joined the Ontario bar in 1991. He worked for his whole legal career at Garfinkle Biderman LLP, where he focused on commercial disputes, construction liens, bankruptcy, insolvency, and employment litigation.
Nitchke obtained her law degree from the University of Western Ontario and joined the Ontario bar in 2003. She served as a partner at Thompson, Tooze, McLean & Elkin, became a partner at Black Sutherland LLP in 2019, and became senior counsel at Aviva Trial Lawyers in 2023. She has been lead counsel in civil and criminal trials and appellate cases.
Blanchard graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and joined the Ontario bar in 2005. She has been legal counsel in the cabinet confidences area of the Privy Council Office in Ottawa in 2006 and in the federal justice department beginning in 2007. She became an assistant Crown attorney in the Cornwall Crown attorney’s office in 2010.
Dart received his law degree from Queen’s University and joined the Ontario bar in 2006. He worked at the Scarborough and Belleville Crown attorney’s offices. He became a federal Crown attorney for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in 2013.
He has served as an associate and partner focusing on employment, family, and criminal law and property litigation at Viner, Kennedy, Frederick, Allan & Tobias LLP and as an associate and partner handling medical malpractice, motor vehicle, and insurance cases at Bergeron Clifford LLP.
Lambert-Bélanger graduated from the University of Ottawa’s French common law program and joined the Ontario bar in 2005. He worked as an associate and partner at Riopelle Group Professional Corporation in Timmins and as an agent for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. He has been an assistant Crown attorney in North Bay since 2018.
Farkouh Martin earned her law degree from the University of Windsor and joined the Ontario bar in 2005. She worked at Lacroix Forest LLP and Desmarais, Keenan LLP before founding Farkouh Martin Law in 2016. She focused on family and child protection matters and acted as an agent for children and youth for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.
Thibault graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and joined the Ontario bar in 1999. She worked at the Toronto and Ottawa Crown attorney’s offices. She has served as the Indigenous People’s Court Crown and as coroner’s counsel at inquests with the chief coroner’s office.
Tomovski obtained a law degree from the University of Windsor and a post-graduate law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. He joined the Ontario bar in 2003.
He worked as an associate at Derstine Penman and a partner at Lockyer Campbell Posner, both criminal law firms, before founding Tomovski Law in 2014. He has been a per diem assistant Crown attorney in Toronto and York since 2023.
Vakiparta received her law degree from Queen’s University and joined the Ontario bar in 2003. She was an assistant Crown attorney in Sudbury and Manitoulin for 19 years.
She became the North Region’s representative for the child homicide resource team in 2021, the North Region’s sexual violence advisory Crown for the North Region in 2022, and the Crown attorney for Sudbury in 2023.
