J. Michael MacDonald (born 1954) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lawyer who previously served as the 22nd Chief Justice of Nova Scotia from 2004 until 2019.

Early life and education

Raised in the Whitney Pier neighbourhood of

Sydney, Nova Scotia Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and disso ...

, MacDonald received a Bachelor of Arts from

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not par ...

in 1976 and then graduated from

Dalhousie Law School , mottoeng = "Law is the source of light" , endowment = , staff = , faculty = 119 , dean = Camille Cameron , head_label = , head = , doctoral = , students = 500 , city ...

in 1979.MacDonald, The Honourable J. Michael
Stewart McKelvey He received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from

Cape Breton University , "Diligence Will Prevail" , mottoeng = Perseverance Will Triumph , established = 1951 as Xavier Junior College 1968 as NSEIT 1974 as College Of Cape Breton 1982 as University College of Cape Breton 2005 as Cape Breton ...

in 2018.

Legal career

MacDonald began his career working as a lawyer in the Sydney, Nova Scotia office of Boudreau, Beaton & LaFosse, which later merged with Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales.Retiring Chief Justice Worked to Improve Access to Justice and Judges
Nova Scotia Courts In 1995, MacDonald was appointed to the

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is a superior court in the province of Nova Scotia. The Supreme Court consists of 25 judicial seats including the position of Chief Justice and Associate Chief Justice. At any given time there may be one or more addit ...

, and was elevated to Associate Chief Justice in 1998. He became the 22nd Chief Justice of Nova Scotia and the Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal on December 31, 2004, replacing Constance Glube. The Honourable J. Michael MacDonald retired as Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, effective January 31, 2019. On July 23, 2020 it was announced by Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey and federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair that MacDonald would serve on a 3-person Independent Review Panel concerning the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

response to the mass shooting that occurred in Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19, 2020. Families of the 22 victims killed during the shooting reacted to the announcement with disappointment, as they had been calling for a full public inquiry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, J. Michael Living people Schulich School of Law alumni Lawyers in Nova Scotia Judges in Nova Scotia 1954 births