Michelle O'Bonsawin

Michelle O'Bonsawin is a Canadian jurist born May 2, 1974 in Hanmer, Ontario, who is Franco-Ontarian and a member of the Abenaki people of the Odanak First Nation. She began her legal career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's legal services, then spent nine years as in house counsel for Canada Post, before becoming general counsel for the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group handling mental health law from 2009, while completing a doctorate at the University of Ottawa on the Gladue sentencing principles for Indigenous offenders. In 2017 she became the first Indigenous person appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. On August 19, 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nominated her to the Supreme Court of Canada, and she took office September 1, 2022, becoming the first Indigenous person to sit on Canada's highest court.