Marianne Rivoalen becomes Manitoba's first chief justice

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The appointment of Ms. Rivoalen was announced last June.

Radio-Canada

Marianne Rivoalen was sworn in as chief justice of Manitoba on Friday in Winnipeg, becoming the first woman to hold this position in the history of the province.

She succeeds Richard Chartier, who served as chief justice for ten years before retiring in October 2022.

Ms. Rivoalen's appointment had been announced last June by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, an announcement which was warmly welcomed by members of the Franco-Manitoban community.

Marianne Rivoalen, a French-speaking native of Saint-Labre, in the southeast of the province, became a judge at the Court of King's Bench in the family division in 2005, then deputy chief judge within the same team in 2015 She has worked at the Federal Court of Appeal since 2018.

Prior to her career as a judge, Ms. Rivoalen was a senior lawyer and team leader in Indigenous Law Services at the Department of Justice Canada. She was responsible for files concerning litigation regarding residential schools for Aboriginal people in Manitoba.

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Marianne Rivoalen has become the Manitoba's first-ever chief justice during a swearing-in ceremony Friday.

She also served as an arbitrator for the Manitoba Labor Board as well as a chief deputy commissioner for the province's Residential Tenancies Board.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in mathematics from the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, today known as the Université de Saint-Boniface, and a Bachelor of Laws from the Université de Moncton.

Marianne Rivoalen was called to the Bar in 1989.

Working in both languages officials during her career, she was also president of the Société franco-manitobaine, which later became Société de la francophonie manitobaine (SFM), between 2000 and 2003.

Ms. Rivoalen also chaired the Association of French-speaking Jurists of Manitoba (AJEFM) and the Pluri-elles organization.