Justice Len Marchand Jr. of Kamloops has been appointed to the B.C. Court of Appeal.

Marchand has been a Supreme Court Justice in Kamloops since 2017. Before that, he was a provincial court judge for four years. He practiced law at Fulton Law LLP for 18 years before becoming a judge.

He’s a member of the Okanagan Indian Band and has dedicated a lot of his career to reconciliation. He helped negotiate the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history in 2005, as a signatory to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. In his career he has also pursued civil claims of historic child abuse cases in institutions, namely serving residential school survivors.

Marchand has presided in the First Nations Court in Kamloops as well, to develop healing plans for offenders with input from Elders.

The appointment was made today by Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti, who says he’s confident Marchand will serve the people of B.C. well in his new role and wishes him success.

Marchand is the son of the late Len Marchand Sr., a former Liberal Member of Parliament for the Kamloops region for 11 years, who was the first status Indian elected in the House of Commons.