MIL OSI Translation. Canadian French to English –
Source: Government of Canada – in French
September 23, 2024– Ottawa (Ontario) – Department of Justice Canada
The Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointments under the judicial application process established in 2016. This process emphasizes transparency, merit and the diversity of the Canadian population, and will continue to ensure the appointment of jurists who meet the highest standards of excellence and integrity.
Mathieu Piché-Messier, partner and national leader in commercial litigation at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Montreal, is appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal. Justice Piché-Messier replaces Justice PH Bélanger (Montreal), who resigned effective May 24, 2024.
Lysane Cree, an administrative judge at the Tribunal administratif de déontologie policière in Montreal, is appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal. Justice Cree replaces Justice M. Lachance (Montreal), who was appointed to the Court of Appeal effective June 17, 2024.
Horia Bundaru, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP in Montreal, is appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal. Justice Bundaru replaces Justice K. Kear-Jodoin (Montreal), who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective July 16, 2024.
Quote
“I wish Judges Piché-Messier, Cree and Bundaru every success in their new roles. I am confident that they will serve the people of Quebec well as members of the Superior Court of Quebec.”
– The Honourable Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Biographies
Judge Mathieu Piché-Messier was born and raised in Montreal. He received his Bachelor of Civil Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Sherbrooke in 1997. He was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1998.
Since 2000, Justice Piché-Messier has practiced commercial litigation at Borden Ladner Gervais where, after being named partner in 2006, he held the position of Head of the Commercial Litigation Group in Montreal for seven years and was then appointed National Business Leader – Commercial Litigation. His practice focused on the areas of extraordinary remedies and commercial litigation in the areas of anti-fraud, high technology, industrial espionage, privacy and identity theft, international arbitration, aeronautics, defamation and intellectual property. A litigator, author and speaker, he was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2018, a Fellow of Litigation Counsels of America in 2021, and was named Advocatus Emeritus (Ad. E.) of the Barreau du Québec in 2022. He has also been recognized by his peers to appear in the editions of Chambers, The Best Lawyers and Benchmark Litigation as one of the 50 best litigators in Canada.
Justice Piché-Messier has been a member of the boards of the Barreau du Québec, the Barreau de Montréal and the Canadian Bar, Québec Division. He has also been president of the Centre d’accès à l’Information juridique du Québec (CAIJ) and the Young Bar Association of Montreal. Involved in the Montreal community, he has sat on the boards of Cirque Éloize, Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Enfants-retour and Make-a-Wish.
Judge Piché-Messier and his partner, Me Natacha Lavoie, are the happy parents of Vincent and Victoria.
Justice Lysane Cree is originally from the Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) Nation and received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Northern Studies from McGill University in 1996, before earning a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Bachelor of Common Law from McGill University in 2000. She was called to the Quebec Bar in 2003, the New York State Bar in 2012 and the Ontario Bar in 2020.
Justice Cree began her practice with Hutchins Legal Inc. and focused on Indigenous law issues and working with First Nations governments in several provinces and occasionally in New York State for sixteen years. While still in private practice, she began working part-time in the area of police ethics with the Police Ethics Committee (now the Tribunal), hearing cases involving Indigenous police services in the province of Quebec. She then worked as a decision-maker with the Discipline Committee of the Chambre de la sécurité financière from 2019 to 2021 before becoming a full-time administrative judge with the Tribunal administratif de déontologie policière. During this time, she was involved with the Council of Canadian Administrative Tribunals, serving as a member of the Tribunal’s Excellence Committee and the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.
Judge Cree is an avid equestrian and enjoys spending time with her horses.
Justice Horia Bundaru immigrated to Canada at the age of eleven with his parents and younger sister. He received a BCL/LL.B. from McGill University’s Faculty of Law in 2005 and was called to the Quebec Bar in 2006.
Justice Bundaru spent his entire career at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, where he became a partner in 2016 and where, at the time of his appointment, he was a director of the Litigation Group in Montreal. A well-known litigator, his practice focused on commercial litigation, construction law and energy law. Since 2016, he has taught civil procedure and drafting at the École du Barreau.
Justice Bundaru has chaired the Quebec Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, the Liaison Committee of the Montreal Bar with the Superior Court (Civil Division) and the Salon VISEZ DROIT. At the time of his appointment, he was chair of the Liaison Committee with the Court of Appeal and a member of the Conseil de la magistrature du Québec. He is listed in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Benchmark Litigation Canada as a “litigation star”, Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyers, The Legal 500 Canada and Best Lawyers in Canada. In 2022, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers.
Judge Bundaru is passionate about literature and is an avid cross-country skier and tennis player. With his partner Maya, also a lawyer, he has two daughters, Ariane and Éloïse.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
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