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Wee, Associate chief justice wa me wwe = “Cunningham plans £6 (6 help solve problems for Ontario judges . By JAKERUPERT Eastern Ontario’s regional sé- nior Superior Court Justice Douglas Cunningham is look- ‘ing forward to his new duties -after being appointed associate chief justice of the court for the province. Judge Cunningham was ap- pginted to the new position last aweek and will move into the yale full time in the new year. SE has been senior regional *iidee in eastern Ontario since "July 2000, in charge of alniost 450: so;judges sitting from Belleville “£6 Pembroke to Cornwall. He said he plans to continue his policy of being in close con- tact with judges to find out what issues and problems they are facing — with an eye to de“ veloping solutions. “I look at my role as provid- ing strong support for the chief justice and to carry out the ini- tiatives developed to-give the support judges need,” he said yesterday. To do this, he says one must be in constant contact with al- “Ge i ost 300 sitting Superior Cc ourt judges in the province, ¥ because you can’t fix a problem . fb I) WAY eK D CHF S EG es woo! - ‘excited’ by new job if you don’t know there is one. Judge Cunningham will be replacing Heather Forster Smith, who moved up to take the chief justice position after Patrick. LeSage retired earlier this year. Judge Cunnisigham, 62, was called to the bar in 1969. He practised mainly civil litigation and criminal defence law in Kingston until 1991, when he’ - Was appointed to the bénch. As ajudge, he’s been sitting on civ- il, criminal and family cases in Ottawa’s Elgin Street court- house. He is still in charge of a‘cou- ple of ‘outstanding. cases-in-Ot- tawa, most notably the stalled jury trial of Nicolas Ribich, a ‘Canadian who - faces four . charges under Canadian law for allegedly taking hostages when he was fighting’ for the’ Serbian army during the 1995: conflict in Bosnia-Herzegov- Judge Cunningham says he will follow this and his other cases to their conclusions, but will not be taking ‘any more new cases. He. said he was contacted about the job in the fall and thought about it at some length before indicating he’d be inter- ested. Judge Cunningham said he didn’t think too much about the offer again until last Thursday, i a VREHR AOL AE or BRIGITTE BOUVIER, THE OTTAWA CIT Justice Douglas Cunningham has been appointed associate chie justice of Ontario, but will complete his outstanding cases. when he’got a call saying he had the job. . He said he’s enjoyed his time in Ottawa and will commute to his new Toronto office for the first while before deciding whether he is going to move there. He said he is looking for- + ward to the next phase of his le- gal career. “T'm- really quite exci about it,” he said. There has been no decis, on who will replace Judge Ci ningham as senior regional j tice. For the time being, Just James Chadwick will take o his duties until a decision made. : ea 2D PPLE YO A LPF CE