Former Winnipeg mayor Brian Bowman appointed judge

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This article was published 18/12/2023 (659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former Winnipeg mayor Brian Bowman will carry out his next job in a court room.

On Monday, the federal government announced the 52-year-old has been appointed to serve as a Manitoba Court of King’s Bench justice.

First elected as Winnipeg’s mayor in 2014, he became the first self-identified Indigenous person to hold the job. He was re-elected in 2018, but did not seek a third term in 2022.

“I wish Justice Bowman every success as he takes on his new role. I am confident he will serve Manitobans well as a member of His Majesty’s Court of King’s Bench for Manitoba,” federal Justice Minister Arif Virani said in a release.

In June, Bowman became vice-president of sustainability and social impact at Canada Life Assurance Co.

A member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, he was born and raised in Winnipeg. He obtained a bachelor of arts at the University of Manitoba, before earning a law degree at the University of Toronto.

Bowman was called to the bar in Manitoba in 2000, and worked as a privacy lawyer 2000-14.

There is a longstanding precedent for politicians with legal experience to become judges, one expert said Monday.

“It’s less common now than it used to be, but it’s certainly not rare,” said Christopher Adams, a political scientist at St. Paul’s College at the U of M.

For example, Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Vic Toews served as a federal cabinet minister during his 2000-13 time in Ottawa and was a Manitoba MLA from 1995-99.

Toews joined the court in 2014, after leaving politics.

Adams said Bowman’s work with political colleagues with a wide range of views and party affiliations could help him.

“His behaviour has been (as) a pluralist who could balance different (interests)… So I would say, as a politician, he (displayed) characteristics that are good for a judge.”

However, the appointment was a surprise in some ways, since Bowman doesn’t appear to have practised law in several years, Adams added.

Paul Thomas, a professor emeritus of political studies at the U of M, said several changes have taken place since 2016 that aim to make federal judicial appointments more transparent and more diverse.

Thomas said he suspects Bowman’s time as mayor could offer him some unique advantages as a judge.

“Because he had this experience on the front lines of city hall and knows some of the urban problems that lead to crime, he has broader public policy knowledge than some other people with legal backgrounds might have… He knows the broader policy context in which the law is forced to operate,” said Thomas.

Coun. Brian Mayes, who is also a lawyer, said Bowman has qualities and experience that will help him in court. “Here’s someone who has great empathy, he certainly has great belief in reconciliation.”

Mayes said he believes the former mayor’s years in politics allowed him to meet and work with diverse groups of people and help unify them around common goals.

“He was good at that, keeping people together. I think the eight years in politics is good training. You realize not everybody sees things the same way. You meet people from different walks of life,” he said.

Bowman did not respond to requests for comment by deadline Monday.

According to the website of the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, as of April 1, 2023, the annual salary of a King’s Bench justice is $383,700.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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