CMFMAG TeamMinister of National Defence Bill Blair recently appointed two new military judges. The minister announced on Sept. 9 that Colonel Stephen Strickey and Colonel Nancy Isenor are the Canadian Armed Forces’ newest military judges.
Colonel Isenor
Colonel Isenor was called to the bar of the province of Manitoba in 1998 and joined the Office of the Judge Advocate General in 1999. She has served in a number of positions including:
- military prosecutor,
- Deputy Judge Advocate Trenton,
- Legal Advisor to North American Aerospace Defense Command,
- Legal Advisor to Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit,
- Strategic Joint Staff Legal Advisor and
- as Assistant Deputy Judge Advocate General for both Operations and Military Justice.
Col Isenor deployed to Bosnia as the Senior Legal Advisor, Afghanistan as the legal advisor to Task Force 58 and domestically in support of the 2010 G8/G20 Summit and the 2010 Winter Olympics. In 2023, she was promoted to the rank of Colonel and has served as Deputy Judge Advocate General/ Military Justice since then.
Colonel Strickey
The announcement stated that Colonel Strickey was called to the bar of the province of New Brunswick in 1999 and joined the Office of the Judge Advocate General in 2002. He served in various director roles and as the Special Advisor to the Judge Advocate General.
Col. Strickey deployed twice to Afghanistan in support of both conventional and special forces operations as part of OP ATHENA and OP ARCHER.
Since being promoted to Colonel in July 2018, he assumed the roles of Deputy Judge Advocate General Administrative Law, Military Justice, and Military Justice Modernization, was seconded to the Department of Justice as Visiting Senior Counsel and Special Advisor to the Assistant Deputy Minister and most recently served as the first Vice Judge Advocate General in the modern history of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Military Judges
Military judges preside at court martial and perform other judicial duties provided for under the National Defence Act, such as judicial review of pre-trial custody. The Act requires that military judges be military officers for at least 10 years and members of a provincial bar for at least 10 years.
According to a media announcement, military judges are appointed following a process that includes an assessment of eligible candidates by an independent committee administered by the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs.
Once appointed, military judges may remain in office up to age 60. They may only be removed by the Governor in Council upon the recommendation of an independent Military Judges Inquiry Committee.
