Justice Barbara M. Young – BCSC

Justice Barbara M. Young received a Registered Nursing diploma in 1975 from Mohawk College. She received a Bachelor of Arts with distinction in 1983 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1985, both from the University of Calgary, and was admitted to the Bar of British Columbia in 1986. She was a partner with Berge Horn and a number of other firms. She practised primarily in the areas of family law, personal injury, and bankruptcy. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2005.

Originally from St. Catharines, Barbara M. Young was appointed Master and Registrar of Bankruptcies (Central Okanagan) with the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2006.

Barbara Mary Young was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia to fill a new position created by Bill C-31 in 2015.

Bill C-31, officially titled “An Act to Amend the Indian Act”, was passed in 1985 to address gender discrimination in the Indian Act and to restore Indian status to those who had lost it due to discriminatory provisions, predominantly women who had lost their Indian status or band membership due to marriage to non-natives. Barbara M. Young wasn’t appointed to the high court because of merit, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia because she is a native woman.

It also aimed to allow bands to control their own membership as a step towards self-government.

See —– Cowichan Tribes v. Canada, 2025 BCSC 1490

This past weekend I attended the CBA BC Woman Lawyer’s Forum in Vernon BC with my good friends and colleagues Kathryn Sainty and Sonia Virk. Beautiful setting at Sparkling Hills. It was a real privilege to meet the Honourable Madam Justice Barbara M. Young and the Honourable Judge Cathie Heinrichs both of whom shared views from the bench to the woman lawyer attendees.