On December 31, Justice Dominique Bélanger will retire from the Quebec Court of Appeal, where she has sat since November 2, 2012. A graduate of the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal (LL.L. 1979), she was admitted to the Bar in 1980, then completed her master’s degree in commercial law in 1981. After beginning her career in private practice with the firm Chicoine et associés in Varennes, she joined the firm Stikeman Elliott in Montreal , where she specializes in civil and commercial litigation. In 1986, she moved to the Service du contentieux of the City of Quebec, then to Kronström Desjardins. In 1991, she founded her own firm known as Pâquet Bélanger. During her career as a lawyer, Justice Bélanger taught for more than ten years at the École du Barreau de Québec. She was for nearly twenty years a facilitator at the Seminar on advocacy techniques of the Barreau du Québec. She has also held several positions within the Young Bar Association of Montreal, the Young Bar of Quebec and the Bar of Quebec.
Appointed member of the Administrative Tribunal of Québec in 1998, she is assigned there mainly to the Economic Affairs Section and to the Territory and Environment Section. She entered the Superior Court on April 21, 2005, where she was coordinator of class actions, responsible for the district of Montmagny and then that of Beauce. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal on November 2, 2012 and was coordinating judge of the Quebec Appeal Division from June 2018 to June 2022.
About Justice Bélanger, the Chief Justice said: “A model for everyone, Justice Bélanger is a remarkable colleague: impeccable preparation, fine jurist, efficient, respectful, courteous and author of clear, convincing and humane reasons delivered with speed. and empathy. His exceptional collaboration as coordinating judge enabled the Court of Appeal to effectively pursue its judicial activities during the pandemic crisis, in the best interest of litigants. His irreproachable commitment to justice has been the common thread of his work throughout his career. The colleagues at the Court and I wish him a happy retirement and the health to realize all his projects and his dreams. »