The Honourable Doug Downey, Attorney General of Ontario, is pleased to announce the appointment of five new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective February 26, 2026.

Justice Gordon Omar Akilie was called to the Ontario bar in 2013 and the Yukon bar in 2025. He clerked for the Superior Court of Justice in Hamilton and began his legal career as a criminal defence lawyer in Toronto. From 2016 to 2024, he served as an assistant Crown attorney with the Ministry of the Attorney General in Hamilton and later in Niagara. As an assistant Crown attorney, he prosecuted a variety of criminal matters and held numerous case management and leadership roles. In June 2024, Justice Akilie became an agent for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) in the Hamilton area. Since August 2025, he has acted as Crown counsel with the PPSC in Whitehorse, Yukon, having carriage over two circuit courts as well as the Whitehorse Community Wellness Court.

Justice Akilie was a member of the Hamilton Mental Health and Drug Treatment Court steering committee, serving as a federal Crown representative, and was a course director for the Crown Summer School Intimate Partner and Family Violence Program. He was a board member of the Gateway Residential & Community Support Services in Niagara, an organization that enables people with mental illness to achieve greater independence through housing and support services. Justice Akilie has also volunteered with the Out of the Cold program, preparing and serving meals, as well as the Law Society of Ontario Member Assistance Program as a peer mentor.

Justice Akilie graduated from the University of Windsor Faculty of Law.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Akilie to Niagara.

Justice Laurie Ann Gonet was called to the Ontario bar in 2001. For 25 years, she was an assistant Crown attorney with the Ministry of the Attorney General in Toronto, conducting a wide range of prosecutions in both the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. Within the Crown’s office, Justice Gonet was director of the Youth Court and worked within the Summary Conviction Appeal Office. Most recently, she was the administrative Crown at the Superior Court of Justice for the Toronto west office.

Justice Gonet was vice-president and then president of the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association, working on employment issues and education on behalf of the province’s 1,100 assistant Crown attorneys. She is a member of the Catholic Schools Parent Council, holding a number of positions including secretary, board member and executive member. Justice Gonet also volunteers with Lab Rescue, a non-profit group of volunteers who foster and re-home Labrador retrievers throughout Ontario.

Justice Gonet graduated from Queen’s University Faculty of Law.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Gonet to Brampton.

Justice Jayme Lesperance was called to the Ontario bar in 2014. He began his legal career with Ducharme Fox LLP before joining Sutts, Strosberg LLP as a criminal defence lawyer in 2015. Since then, Justice Lesperance has been an assistant Crown attorney with the Ministry of the Attorney General in Windsor, prosecuting a wide range of cases in both the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice, including homicides, sexual assaults and firearm offences. He was the Windsor co-lead for human trafficking prosecutions, co-lead on the Intensive Serious Violent Crime Bail Team and co-lead for the Mental Health and Drug Treatment specialty courts.

Justice Lesperance volunteers in his community as a coach with LaSalle Turtle Club baseball and on the LaSalle Minor Hockey Association Board of Directors while also serving as an off-ice trainer for a youth hockey team. Additionally, he is on the United Way Windsor-Essex County Board of Directors, working to reduce childhood poverty in the area. Justice Lesperance is also a member of the Committee of the Board, Quality Utilization and Risk with the Windsor Essex Community Health Centre and volunteers with Lawyers Feed the Hungry, part of the Law Society Foundation of Ontario, that provides hot, nutritious meals to community members in need.

Justice Lesperance graduated from the University of Windsor Faculty of Law.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Lesperance to Windsor.

Justice Heather Dorretta Palin was called to the Ontario bar in 2013. She began her legal career as an assistant Crown attorney in Niagara South and Middlesex County. In 2021, she joined the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Provincial Human Trafficking Prosecution Team for the West and Central West Regions as Crown counsel. She regularly appeared before the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice on a variety of matters including complex human trafficking and sexual assault prosecutions.

Justice Palin has been a member of the Anti-Human Trafficking Committee of the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region since 2021. The committee works to prevent and respond to sexual violence and human trafficking in the region. She has also been an alumni mentor for law students at the University of Toronto since 2019 and volunteered as a moot court judge for the Western University Law Society Moot Cup in 2024 and 2025.

Justice Palin graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Palin to Kitchener.

Justice Lindsey Ann Jessica Santerre was called to the Ontario bar in 2013. She began her legal career at Scarfe Wells Criminal Law and became an associate at Robert Beckett Criminal Law. In 2017, she became an assistant Crown attorney for the District of Sudbury where she was the local and regional designated Crown to prosecute human trafficking, firearm offences and opioid overdose death investigations. In 2022, Justice Santerre was appointed as the Crown attorney for the District of Algoma, and in 2024, transferred to the District of Manitoulin. In this role, she often handled serious and complex prosecutions at both the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice.

Justice Santerre is a board member of Manitoulin Family Resources, a non-profit organization that offers community support for vulnerable and marginalized victims of domestic violence. She is also a member of the Rainbow District School Board, assisting the school council in community and student engagement opportunities.

Justice Santerre graduated from Bond University Faculty of Law in Australia.

Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas has assigned Justice Santerre to Espanola-Manitoulin.