She brings experience from stints with the Canada justice department and in legal aid work
Canada justice department deputy regional director and senior counsel Ami Assignon has been named a judge of the New Brunswick provincial court in Moncton, becoming the 14th woman to serve as a full-time judge on the bench.
New Brunswick justice minister Robert McKee announced the appointment last Friday July 17, highlighting Assignon’s extensive experience, public service commitment, and broad perspective.
Assignon worked with the Department of Justice Canada for over eight years. She was also general counsel with the New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission in Campbellton, according to LinkedIn.
She served as a bilingual duty counsel, counseling people on pleas in English and French. She has conducted bail hearings and helped with sentencing. She has also defended individuals in criminal matters like robbery, aggravated assault, and death resulting from criminal negligence. Her clients have included children and those found unfit to stand trial or non-criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Assignon evaluated and amended by-laws in the municipality of Dalhousie as a legal consultant. She interned with the African Development Bank, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the International Criminal Court, where she helped the deputy registrar to prepare the “Report on the ICC Strategy in Relation to Victims.”
She was a legal researcher with United Nations Peacekeeping before joining the Canada justice department in 2017, where she has mainly focused on New Brunswick matters. She conducted language training for provincial court judges under the Juralingo program.
Assignon holds a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and a bachelor of laws from the Université de Moncton. She pursued her master’s degree in public international law at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Her appointment has resulted in gender parity on the provincial court bench, with the 28 full-time judges evenly split between men and women.
“An independent and highly qualified judiciary is essential to maintaining public confidence in our justice system,” McKee said in a statement. “I wish [Assignon] every success in this important role.”
In April, the New Brunswick government introduced centralized virtual bail hearings in Fredericton and Woodstock, with the initiative set for expansion to Moncton. The move is intended to improve timely access to justice, reduce court delays, and use judicial resources more efficiently.
