BC Gov News

Following a merit-based recruitment process, Brenda Lee Edwards has been appointed for a three-year term as chair of the British Columbia Review Board.

The B.C. Review Board is the independent tribunal established under the Criminal Code of Canada. The board is responsible for balancing the rights of people found not criminally responsible for a crime, or unfit to stand trial due to a mental disorder, with protection of the public from those individuals who pose a significant threat.

Edwards holds a bachelor of laws degree from the University of Ottawa and is a senior lawyer, retired judicial justice of the provincial court and administrative law adjudicator with a background as a public-sector leader and educator. She has served as member and alternate chair of the B.C. Review Board since January 2018. She has also served as panel chair deciding reviews and appeals before the Health Professions Review Board, Environmental Appeal Board, Oil and Gas Appeal Tribunal and the Forest Appeals Commission. Her judicial experience includes working to develop specialized courts to address the needs of Indigenous Peoples, survivors of domestic violence and people who live with mental-health and substance-use issues.

Edwards has served as a member-delegate of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute in Tunisia and Cambodia. Throughout her career, she has worked extensively on equality issues, women’s issues, and the intersections of the mental-health, addictions, and criminal-justice fields.

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For more information about the B.C. Review Board, visit: https://www.bcrb.ca/