Tuesday, April 6, 2021

The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, announced Apr. 6 new judicial appointments in the province of Nova Scotia.

Gail L. Gatchalian (LLB 1996), Q.C., a partner at Pink Larkin Lawyers in Halifax, is appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.

Madam Justice Gatchalian, Q.C., graduated from Riverview Rural High School in Cape Breton in 1988, received a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Dalhousie University in 1993, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1996.

Madam Justice Gatchalian articled with Cavalluzzo Hayes Shilton McIntyre and Cornish in Toronto. She returned to Nova Scotia in 1999 to join Pink Larkin in Halifax, where she practised labour, employment, human rights, and constitutional law for 22 years. She received her Queen’s Counsel designation in 2018.

Justice Gatchalian is a former President of the Canadian Bar Association’s Nova Scotia Branch (CBANS), a former chair of the CBA National Labour and Employment Law Section, and former Equity Chair of the CBANS. Most recently, she was the Chair of the CBANS Sexual Harassment Work Group, having led the development and delivery of Empowering Bystanders training to address sexual harassment in legal workplaces. She also served as a Nova Scotia Human Rights Board of Inquiry Chair.

Justice Gatchalian is of mixed Filipino and Irish/Scottish descent. Her father, Dr. Celso Gatchalian, was from the Philippines. Her mother, Carol Gatchalian, is from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. Together with her husband, Jose Farias, Justice Gatchalian has two daughters, ages 16 and 9, who are both Chinese-Canadian and her pride and joy.

Read the full Department of Justice announcement