OTTAWA – A quick sketch of Glenn Joyal, who has been nominated to the Supreme Court of Canada:
EARLY YEARS: Raised in a bicultural family in St. Boniface, Man. Father with deep Franco-Manitoban roots, mother of Polish heritage.
EDUCATION: Attended St. Paul’s Jesuit High School, Winnipeg. Bachelor of arts, Simon Fraser University. Studied in France and Italy. Law school at the University of Manitoba and McGill University. Called to the Manitoba bar in 1987. Master’s degree in political science, University of Manitoba. Studied political theory and constitutional law at Oxford University.
LEGAL CAREER: Manitoba Attorney General’s Department, 1986. Federal Justice Department, 1990. Counsel with law firm, 1997.
ON THE BENCH: Manitoba Provincial Court, 1988. Manitoba Court of Appeal, 2007. Associate chief justice, Manitoba Court of King’s Bench, 2009. Became chief justice of the court in 2011.
FAMILY: Married to a Franco-Manitoban.
OTHER PURSUITS: Amateur playwright whose plays have been theatrically produced and published. Served on library, theatre boards.
Quote: “Whether a court’s role is supervisory or appellate, justice is the foundational objective of any court and it is best realized when the individual or human element of a case has been taken into account.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2026.
