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Justice O’Bonsawin began her professional career with the legal services at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. She then served as counsel with the Canada Post and for eight years was the general counsel for the Royal Ottawa Healthcare Group, where she focused on mental health and human rights. Her efforts included significant research into Gladue Principles – the consideration of the unique experiences of indigenous peoples -- in the field of forensic mental health. She also appeared before multiple tribunals and courts, including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Consent and Capacity Board, the Ontario Review Board, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Appeal. In 2017, she was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice. Justice O’Bonsawin is a frequent speaker and author on Gladue principles, civil rights, indigenous issues, mental health, and other substantive areas. She has also taught Indigenous Law at the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Program, and has been responsible for the Indigenous Relations Program at the Royal Ottawa Healthcare Group. She served on the Board of Governors for the University of Ottawa, as a board member for the Aboriginal Legal Services of the University of Ottawa’s Legal Clinic and for the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, as an observer-member of the Membership Committee of the Odanak First Nation, and as a partner judge for the Afghanistan Women Judges with the International Association of Women Judges. She holds a doctorate in law from the University of Ottawa.
Given her professional expertise in mental health issues, it was fitting that Justice O’Bonsawin chose to frame her remarks around the importance of mental health in our societies generally and in particular the legal profession itself – not as an academic exercise, but as an important issue with deeply human impacts. As she put it:
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Justice O’Bonsawin is fluent in English and French and comfortable in Abenaki as well. (She began and closed her remarks to the College in Abenaki.) She is the mother of two boys, and was joined at the meeting by her husband, Pierre Robichaud. Pierre is a professional engineer, a leading intellectual property lawyer in Canada, and a founding member of the firm Andrews and Robichaud.