FIRST NATIONS TRAILBLAZER IS CANADIAN CANDIDATE

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000146 SENSITIVE SIPDIS IO/MPR - BRIAN G. HACKETT, L/UNA - DARIN JOHNSON, AND USUN/MR - BRUCE RASHKOW E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL ACBAQ AORC KUNR UNGA UNGA UNGA CA SUBJECT: FIRST NATIONS TRAILBLAZER IS CANADIAN CANDIDATE FOR UN APPEALS TRIBUNAL REF: STATE 16118 ¶1. (SBU) Justice Rose Boyko is a "trailblazer among First Nations people in Canada," according to Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) UN Section Deputy Director Shannon Marie Soni. Soni added that Boyko was the first aboriginal Canadian woman appointed as a superior court judge in Canada after a long and distinguished career as legal advisor in federal and provincial governments. DFAIT conducted extensive vetting of Boyko, according to Soni, and discovered no derogatory information with regard to her judicial temperament or reputation for impartiality. Boyko has been a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division) since 1994, and a lawyer since 1982. ¶2. (SBU) Embassy investigation of open source material on Justice Boyko yielded no adverse information. She is also a former Vice President of the Indigenous Bar Association and the current Vice President of the Canadian chapter of the International Association of Women Judges. She is keenly interested in social issues and attaches great importance to maintaining her aboriginal identity and values, according to media reports. She has also expressed interest publicly in aboriginal sentencing circles to promote reconciliation between the victims of crime and offenders. ¶3. (SBU) Soni also noted that Canada plans to support U.S. candidate Judge Mark Painter. Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada BREESE