Lisa Joyal

Lisa Joyal, BA (Double Hons), MA, LLB, was called to the Bar in 1991. She was a civil lawyer for the first few years of her career, before becoming a Crown prosecutor in 1994 with the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. In 1999, she joined the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Crown Law Office—Criminal as a Crown counsel, and has worked there for nearly twenty years. She has prosecuted numerous child abuse cases before both the Ontario Court of Justice and the Superior Court of Justice, and has also worked with child complainants and their families at a broader level through various child witness preparation programs. In addition, she has argued many child abuse appeals before the Ontario Court of Appeal and a number before the Supreme Court of Canada. She has written about children’s rights in the criminal justice system, and has lectured on children’s evidence, child abuse, and Crown ethics. She is a member of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Sexual Violence Advisory Group and the Ministry’s Child Homicide Resource Team. She served as a review counsel for the multidisciplinary Shaken Baby Death Review Committee and also participates on the Deaths Under Five Committee of the Chief Coroner for Ontario. She was a member of the Crown Law Office—Criminal’s Internet Child Exploitation Committee, and coordinated the Crown Law Office—Criminal’s approach to handling child pornography material in appellate court proceedings. She is also a co-drafter of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Prosecution Manual Directives on Offences Against Children, Internet Child Exploitation, Victims, and Experts. On a personal note, Lisa is the proud mother of two amazing daughters. She is also proud of her Manitoba roots, and her Métis heritage, and is one of the many cousins of Louis Riel.