They’re at different stages in their lives. Their work as lawyers was very different. But BC Provincial Court Judicial Justices Aamna Afsar and Robert Lesperance both enjoy their work as judicial justices and find it rewarding. 

That work involves presiding in courtrooms throughout BC in trials of traffic and other tickets, municipal bylaw offences, and small claims payment hearings. When assigned to the Justice Centre, they consider search warrant applications and conduct evening and weekend bail hearings by video or telephone. Judicial justices work part-time. They may spend their other time practising law (except for criminal law) and in other activities that don’t conflict with their judicial duties.

Judicial Justice Afsar

Judicial Justice Afsar is the daughter of immigrants from Pakistan who met as students at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Her father, a civil engineer and urban planner, grew up in a remote Pakistani village. Her mother was unable to study engineering in Pakistan because she was a woman. Instead, she obtained a master’s degree in nuclear physics while working to change the gender-based admission requirements for engineering so other women could enter that field.   

The family settled in Saskatchewan where Judicial Justice Afsar learned from her parents to value education and public service. She obtained an honours degree in psychology and biology at the University of Regina and a dual civil and common law degree from McGill University in Montreal. After articling and practising law briefly in Alberta, she moved to BC and worked for the BC Prosecution Service for 13 years. As Crown Counsel, her work ranged from charge approval and bail hearings to sexual assault and murder trials. She also spent time in the Downtown Community Court and Youth Court. 

In 2019, Judicial Justice Afsar became an adjudicator on the Immigration and Refugee Board. As a member of the Board’s Gender Related Task Force, she developed training on trauma-informed practice and became a founding member of the Refugee Protection Division’s Quality Centre, whose mandate was to ensure excellence in decision making. 

In 2021, she was appointed an alternate chair of the British Columbia Review Board, the tribunal responsible for making decisions about people accused of crimes who have been found unfit to stand trial or not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Judicial Justice Afsar has also been an active volunteer with organizations including the Canadian Bar Association’s mentorship program, the UBC Criminal Law Clinic, the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic and the Justice Education Society. She is bilingual, speaking English and French. 

She joined the Court in 2022. Judicial Justice Afsar also continues her work with the BC Review Board. 

“It is a great privilege to be a judicial justice with the Court. The work of a judicial justice is demanding in terms of volume and is varied in terms of substance and complexity. The issues we deal with are fundamental including privacy and liberty interests and ensuring that self-represented litigants can meaningfully engage in the court process. I enjoy my work, and I feel very lucky to work alongside a distinguished and committed group of judicial justices.”

Judicial Justice Aamna Afsar

Judicial Justice Lesperance

Thanks to his French Canadian grandmother, Judicial Justice Lesperance is also bilingual. He was born in Florida, but his parents returned to Montreal when he was seven. He attended McGill University, obtaining a BA in Canadian history and the dual civil and common law degree. He moved to BC after law school and practised primarily intellectual property, employment, and environmental law with a large Vancouver firm for 13 years, and then in his own law firm for 25 years. 

His mother was a public health nurse and instilled the value of public service.  Judicial Justice Lesperance was an army cadet during high school and spent one summer with the Public Duties Detachment, as a Grenadier Guard in the changing of the guard on Parliament Hill. While practising law in Vancouver, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves and served with the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG), the legal branch of the Armed Forces, for 27 years, attaining the rank of Colonel. His duties included providing legal advice to reserve units in BC and advising the JAG on issues related to reserves, serving on the Chief of Reserves and Cadets Council, and teaching and lecturing on subjects including military justice and the international law of armed conflict. 

Judicial Justice Lesperance also taught a seminar in the law of armed conflict at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law during the 2000’s and earned the law school’s Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award. His publications demonstrate his wide-ranging interests. They include papers and articles on copyright and trademark law, contaminated site litigation, law of armed conflict, and legal aspects of internet advertising. 

In addition to his law practice, military service, teaching and writing, Judicial Justice Lesperance has found time for volunteer work including chairing the BC Hospitals Foundation, serving on the boards of BCCC Enterprises Inc. (the Commissionaires) and the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, as a commissioner of the BC Gaming Commission, and with organizations including the Western Canada Society to Access Justice, McGill Society of Vancouver, and CBA (BC Branch) Environmental Law Section. 

In 2009 he was deployed as a legal officer to Kandahar, Afghanistan, and in 2013 he went back to school and obtained a Master’s of Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. 

After retiring from his law practice and military service, Judicial Justice Lesperance looked for part time work that would continue his commitment to public service and round out his legal career with some new challenges. Appointed in 2023, he finds a Provincial Court judicial justice’s work interesting and enjoyable. When not working in the Court, Judicial Justice Lesperance captains a Granville Island ferry in Vancouver’s False Creek. 

“I enjoy my days in the courtroom. For most British Columbians, traffic court is the only time they will see our justice system in action. Procedural fairness is important to me, and I try to make traffic court as approachable, transparent and pleasant an experience as possible for the people who come to court. My goal is to make sure that people who leave my courtroom feel heard, treated respectfully and fairly.  I’ve found it interesting to learn new areas of law, and I’m enjoying researching legal issues as they arise. My colleagues are bright, committed and very collegial. It is a privilege and an honour to serve the people of British Columbia with them.”

Judicial Justice Robert Lesperance

Applying to be a judicial justice

The Judicial Council of BC welcomes applicants for appointment as a judicial justice with at least five years active practice as a lawyer in Canada, although others may be considered if they have a range of related experience. Consider applying if the work interests you and you meet the criteria outlined on the Court’s website. 

Judicial justice applications