| Post: | Attorney General |
| Body: | Ontario |
| Insignia: | Tbs-visualidentity-COA-Blk_(3)_copy.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 200px |
| Incumbent: | Doug Downey |
| Incumbentsince: | June 20, 2019 |
| Department: | Executive Council of Ontario |
| Style: | The Honourable |
| Termlength: | At His Majesty’s Pleasure |
| Inaugural: | John Sandfield Macdonald as Attorney General of Ontario |
| Website: | Office of the Attorney General |
The Attorney General of Ontario is the chief legal adviser to His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario and, by extension, the Government of Ontario. The Attorney General is a senior member of the Executive Council of Ontario (the cabinet) and oversees the Ministry of the Attorney General – the department responsible for the oversight of the justice system in the province of Ontario. The Attorney General is an elected Member of Provincial Parliament who is appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario on the constitutional advice of the Premier of Ontario.
The goal of the Ministry of the Attorney General is to provide a fair and accessible justice system that reflects the needs of the diverse communities it serves across government and the province. The Ministry represents the largest justice system in Canada and one of the largest in North America. It strives to manage the justice system in an equitable, affordable and accessible way throughout the province.
Doug Downey was appointed Attorney General of Ontario on 20 June 2019, replacing Caroline Mulroney.
The Attorney General has the authority to represent the provincial government in court personally, but this task is almost always delegated to crown attorneys, or to crown counsel in civil cases. Both Ian Scott and Roy McMurtry, who were prominent courtroom lawyers before entering politics, acted for Ontario in constitutional appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada.[1]
Most holders of the office have been practising lawyers or had legal training. Marion Boyd was the only Attorney General who was not a lawyer until Caroline Mulroney's appointment. Although Mulroney studied and practised law in the United States, she is not legally able to practise law in Canada.
The Ministry of the Attorney General delivers and administers a wide range of justice services, including:
The Ontario Crown Attorney's Office, the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, the Office of the Children's Lawyer (formerly called the Official Guardian), and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) all fall within the Ministry's responsibilities. The Ministry also partially funds Legal Aid Ontario, which is administered by an independent board and also receives funding through the Law Foundation of Ontario and from the federal government.
In 2008, Office of the Independent Police Review Director (IPRD) was established under the authority of the AG, as a civilian body with powers invested through Public Inquiries Act to investigate complaints about municipal police forces and the Ontario Provincial Police.[2] [3] [4]
Following the 2013 release of former Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci's report on the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Ontario justice system,[5] a position of deputy attorney general with responsibility for Aboriginal issues was created.[6] [3]
1. John White (Frontenac County) 1791–1800
2. Robert Isaac Dey Gray 1800–1801
3. Thomas Scott 1801–1806
4. William Firth 1807–1812
5. G. D'Arcy Boulton 1814–1818
6. Sir John Robinson, 1st Baronet, of Toronto 1818–1829, acting AG 1812–1814
7. Henry John Boulton 1829–1833
8. Robert Sympson Jameson 1833–1837, last British-appointed AG
9. Christopher Alexander Hagerman 1837–1840, first Canadian-born AG of Upper Canada
10. William Henry Draper 1840–1841, last AG of Upper Canada
In 1841, the Province of Upper Canada became the District of Canada West in the Province of Canada
11. William Henry Draper 1841–1843
12. Robert Baldwin 1843–1848
13. William Buell Richards 1848–1854
14. John A. Macdonald 1854–1862, 1864–1867
15. John Sandfield Macdonald 1862–1864
After 1867, the Attorney General position was split into federal and provincial counterparts:
Attorney General of Ontario
Attorney General of Quebec (renamed the Ministry of Justice in 1965)
Attorney General of Canada
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Tenure | Political party (Ministry) | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Sandfield MacDonald | Liberal Conservative (MacDonald) | While Premier | ||||
| 2 | Adam Crooks | Liberal (Blake) | |||||
| 3 | Oliver Mowat | Liberal (Mowat) | While Premier | ||||
| 4 | Arthur S. Hardy | Liberal (Hardy) | While Premier | ||||
| 5 | John Morison Gibson | Liberal (Ross) | |||||
| 6 | Francis Robert Latchford | ||||||
| 7 | James Whitney | Conservative (Whitney) | While Premier | ||||
| 8 | James Joseph Foy | ||||||
| 9 | Isaac Benson Lucas | Conservative (Hearst) | |||||
| 10 | William Raney | United Farmers (Drury) | |||||
| 11 | William Folger Nickle | Conservative (Ferguson) | |||||
| 12 | William Herbert Price | ||||||
| Conservative (Henry) | |||||||
| 13 | Arthur Roebuck | Liberal (Hepburn) | Resigned from cabinet to protest Hepburn's handling of the United Auto Workers strike. | ||||
| 14 | Paul Leduc | Interim Attorney General upon Roebuck's resignation, while Minister of Mines | |||||
| 15 | Gordon Daniel Conant | Conant remained Attorney General when he served as Premier. He resigned both position on May 18, 1943. | |||||
| Liberal (Conant) | |||||||
| 16 | Eric Cross | Liberal (Nixon) | Concurrently Minister of Municipal Affairs | ||||
| 17 | Leslie Blackwell | PC (Drew) | |||||
| PC (Kennedy) | |||||||
| 18 | Dana Porter | PC (Frost) | |||||
| 19 | Kelso Roberts | ||||||
| PC (Robarts) | |||||||
| 20 | Fred Cass | ||||||
| 21 | Arthur Wishart | Styled as Minister of Justice and Attorney General from May 18, 1966 | |||||
| 22 | Allan Lawrence | PC (Davis) | Styled as Minister of Justice and Attorney General. Also served as Provincial Secretary for Justice from January 5, 1972, to September 28, 1972). | ||||
| 23 | Dalton Bales | Styled as Minister of Justice and Attorney General from February 2, 1972, until April 10, 1972. | |||||
| 24 | Robert Stanley Welch | (first instance) | Concurrently Provincial Secretary for Justice | ||||
| 25 | John Clement | Concurrently Provincial Secretary for Justice and Solicitor General (June 18, 1975 - October 7, 1975). | |||||
| 26 | Roy McMurtry | Concurrently Solicitor General (September 11, 1978 – February 13, 1982). The ministry headquarters is named jointly after McMurtry and Ian Scott | |||||
| 24 | Robert Stanley Welch | (second instance) (1 year, 240 days in total) | PC (Miller) | Cocurrently Deputy Premier | |||
| 27 | Alan Pope | ||||||
| 28 | Ian Scott | Liberal (Peterson) | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs, interim Solicitor General (February 3, 1986 – January 9, 1987; June 6, 1989 – August 2, 1989). The ministry headquarters is named jointly after Scott and Roy McMurtry | ||||
| 29 | Howard Hampton | NDP (Rae) | |||||
| 30 | Marion Boyd | Styled as Minister of Justice and Attorney General. First woman to serve as Attorney General. Only Attorney General who was not a lawyer. | |||||
| 31 | Charles Harnick | PC (Harris) | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs | ||||
| 32 | Jim Flaherty | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs | |||||
| 33 | David Young | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs | |||||
| PC (Eves) | |||||||
| 34 | Norm Sterling | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs | |||||
| 35 | Michael J. Bryant | Liberal (McGuinty) | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs and Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal (October 23, 2003 – June 29, 2005). | ||||
| 36 | Chris Bentley | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Native Affairs (January 18, 2010 – October 20, 2011) | |||||
| 37 | John Gerretsen | ||||||
| Liberal (Wynne) | |||||||
| 38 | Madeleine Meilleur | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs. First francophone to serve as Attorney General. | |||||
| 39 | Yasir Naqvi | First visible-minority and first Muslim to serve as Attorney General. | |||||
| 40 | Caroline Mulroney | PC (Ford) | Concurrently Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs. | ||||
| 41 | Doug Downey | present | |||||