Cooper to replace Sharkey as acting chief justice of Nunavut

Nunavut Justice Susan Cooper will serve as acting chief justice of the Nunavut Court of Justice until the federal government names a permanent replacement for Neil Sharkey, the territory’s former chief justice who retired April 13.

Cooper has been a judge in Nunavut since 2009. Prior to that, she worked as a lawyer in Iqaluit and Yellowknife.

“I’m confident she will move the court forward with both energy and vision,” Sharkey said during his farewell speech, marking the end of his 48-year career in law.

He made the announcement at his April 13 swearing-out ceremony at the Iqaluit courthouse. Sharkey, who had been the territory’s top jurist since 2009, is now 75, the mandatory retirement age for judges in Canada.

Cooper was not at Sharkey’s farewell because she was part of a group of women who were cross-country skiing from Kimmirut to Iqaluit, he said.

Sharkey’s retirement is one of several changes in the territory’s justice system in the past year.

In February, Ritu Khullar was sworn in as chief justice of the Nunavut Court of Appeal, the legal avenue for people to appeal decisions made by Nunavut Court of Justice judges. Her appointment was announced last November.

Also in February, the federal government named Faiyaz Alibhai, a former prosecutor with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, a judge in the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Before that, Mia Manocchio, a former justice of the peace, was named a judge in the Nunavut Court of Justice. She was sworn in in August 2023.