Janine Main and Joanna Nefs appointed as judicial justices
The Provincial Court of British Columbia will welcome Diba Majzub and Megan Olson as new judges as of Nov. 24, as well as Janine Main and Joanna Nefs as new judicial justices, to be sworn in on Nov. 25.
“It is my great pleasure and privilege to announce that the Lieutenant Governor in Council has signed Orders in Council appointing 2 judges and 2 judicial justices to the Provincial Court,” said Melissa Gillespie, chief judge of the BC Provincial Court, in the court’s news release.
The court’s new appointees have received assignments as follows:
- Majzub: Fraser region, with chambers in Port Coquitlam
- Olson: Northern region, with chambers in Smithers
- Main and Nefs: the Justice Centre and the traffic division
News releases from the Provincial Court and the BC government provided more information regarding the professional experience and educational background of the recently appointed judges and judicial justices.
Diba Majzub
Majzub obtained his LLM in international criminal law from Columbia University. His legal practice, focusing on criminal law, spans over two decades. Initially, working from 222 Main Street in Vancouver, he prosecuted federal drug offences. He then participated in the United Nations mission in Kosovo from 2004–06.
He joined Canada’s justice department in 2001. He has focused his legal work on extradition and mutual legal assistance cases for the past 15 years. He has been a member of the federal justice department’s Supreme Court of Canada practice group and has thus worked in that court on numerous occasions.
Megan Olson
Olson articled with the BC attorney general and joined the BC bar in 2008. She handled criminal defence matters from 2008–13 and gained related experience in Indigenous law. She occasionally served as director’s counsel on an ad hoc basis. She earned accreditation as a family mediator in 2017.
Through her work within the Smithers community, she has fostered long-standing relationships, established a history of collaboration with First Nations, and cultivated a particular connection with the Gitxsan First Nation. She has served as managing lawyer at the Parents Legal Centre in Smithers since 2018.
Janine Main
Main articled at a criminal law firm. She received admission to the BC bar in 2009 and has since practised in the province. She shifted her focus to family law and remained in that practice area for about two years.
Upon her transition to personal injury law, she worked exclusively as plaintiff’s counsel in personal injury cases for eight years. She recently worked as in-house counsel for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia.
Joanna Nefs
Nefs graduated with a law degree from York University in 2011 and became a member of the Law Society of Ontario in 2012. She worked as a prosecutor at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General and as duty counsel for Legal Aid Ontario in the early years of her legal practice.
She served as executive director of the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy in Vancouver from 2018–20 and as a member and alternate chair of the British Columbia Review Board beginning in August 2020.
