Leading a judicial region as a BC Provincial Court Regional Administrative Judge is an exceptionally challenging position. 

The Court’s five “RAJs”, as they are sometimes called, are responsible for administration within its five regions: North, Interior, Vancouver Island, Vancouver and Fraser. They exercise powers delegated to them by the Chief Judge. 

The judges who do this work hear cases in court like other judges. But they also take on wide-ranging responsibilities including:

• A variety of judicial administration duties, including overseeing regional compliance with legislated requirements and Court policies
• Communicating with stakeholders and other groups in their region
• Working with judicial case managers on scheduling cases and assigning judges to courtrooms
• Two-way liaison between the Chief Judge and judges in the region 
   

In practice this means that RAJs often work evenings and weekends and travel around their regions. They spend lunch hours, early mornings, and late afternoons resolving urgent issues, attending meetings, and contributing to the numerous collaborative initiatives the Court is involved in. 

To fulfill their responsibilities, RAJs meet regularly with judges, judicial case managers and judicial administrative assistants throughout the region. They also meet with representatives of external entities like the Court Services Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General, Sheriffs, defence and Crown counsel, Legal Aid BC, First Nations, Forensic Psychiatric Services, family lawyers, and police departments to discuss administrative problems and ways to improve the operation of the courts in their region.

The Chief Judge relies on the RAJs to represent their regions, including at meetings of the Court’s Judicial Administration and Governance Committees, to ensure the Court meets the needs of such different areas and populations. 

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RAJs also do a lot of public speaking. In addition to sitting in court, a recent week’s scheduled events for one RAJ  included:

• Speaking to a high school class
• Teaching lawyers in a Continuing Legal Education program
• Participating in Law Day at a courthouse in the region
• Attending a meeting on a local initiative
• Chairing two planning meetings for a regional project
• Attending a webinar meeting on AI and the Courts

"The role demands agility, decisive leadership, and the ability to make high-stakes decisions under pressure to ensure the continuity of justice and protect public safety."

Asked to describe his work outside the courtroom, the RAJ summed it up this way: 

“As a Regional Administrative Judge, your responsibilities can shift in an instant: from collaborating with stakeholders, to implementing new policies, to responding urgently to crises such as wildfire threats that force court closures, or unforeseen emergencies like a courthouse flooding. The role demands agility, decisive leadership, and the ability to make high-stakes decisions under pressure to ensure the continuity of justice and protect public safety.

Time away from the courtroom is rarely idle. Breaks are often spent fielding calls and emails from a range of stakeholders, or attending lunchtime meetings focused on advancing new court initiatives or fine-tuning existing ones.

Like any organization, the Court relies on its leaders to champion innovation and continually improve the delivery of justice. Regional Administrative Judges are expected to bring forward not only their ideas, but also those shared by colleagues working on the front lines of court operations.”

Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie said:

“The Court’s Regional Administrative Judges are essential to its day-to-day management and its continuing progress in improving access to justice. During the pandemic, the demands they met increased exponentially as we worked to carry on operations and restructure the Court for the future. Throughout this incredibly challenging period, they provided wise advice and a great deal of their time to ensure the Court came through with new innovations and improved access to justice without increasing delay.

Since the pandemic the Court’s RAJs have continued to lead our judicial officers and staff through major changes in their work, including the transition from in-person to virtual conferences and bail hearings, and the use of digital court files. Being a RAJ is often a thankless task, but it’s important to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of the judges who have served the Court and the public in that capacity.” 

It’s not possible to list here all the judges who have served as Regional Administrative Judges or as their predecessors, called Administrative Judges, in the Court’s history. However, in the last five years, the Court’s RAJs have included:

• Regional Administrative Judge Rita Bowry (Fraser Region, 2022 – present)
• Regional Administrative Judge Victor Galbraith (Northern Region 2020 – 2022)
• Regional Administrative Judge Robert Hamilton (Fraser Region 2015 – 2022)
• Regional Administrative Judge Reginald Harris (Vancouver Region 2025 – present)
• Regional Administrative Judge Gregory Koturbash (Interior Region 2022 – present)
• Regional Administrative Judge John Milne (Vancouver Region 2018 to 2025)
• Regional Administrative Judge Carmen Rogers (Vancouver Island Region 2017 to 2025)
• Regional Administrative Judge Karina Sacca (Vancouver Island Region 2025 – present)
• Regional Administrative Judge Marguerite Shaw (Interior Region 2018 – 2022)
• Regional Administrative Judge Calvin Struyk (Northern Region 2022 – present)

Regional Administrative Judges includes a map of the Court's regions