The Hon. Douglas Wilkins

Justice Douglas Wilkins provides a comprehensive account of his journey from Toronto lawyer to family court judge, spanning over four decades of involvement in Ontario’s family law system. Born and raised in Toronto, Wilkins took an unconventional path to law, spending four years traveling the world with his brother in the early 1950s, creating travelogues to finance their journeys, before teaching in Montreal and eventually entering Osgoode Hall Law School in 1955.

Wilkins practiced law for seventeen years with the firm Macdonald & Macintosh, gradually specializing in family law through the firm’s representation of the Children’s Aid Society. He witnessed the transformation of family courts from informal municipal courts with non-legally trained judges to the professionalized Provincial Court Family Division created in 1968. In 1974, at age 44, he was approached directly by Chief Judge Ted Andrews and asked to join the bench, representing the informal appointment process of that era.

As a family court judge, Wilkins experienced significant changes in family law, from the outdated Deserted Wives and Children’s Maintenance Act to the Family Law Reform Act of 1976, and the evolution from the Juvenile Delinquents Act to the Young Offenders Act. He reflects on the advantages and disadvantages of the old system, particularly regarding juvenile justice, and discusses the challenges of dealing with immigrant families whose cultural practices conflicted with Canadian child welfare standards. Known for his patience and courtesy in the courtroom, Wilkins retired in 1998 after 24 years on the bench, continuing to sit as a per diem judge exclusively in family matters.

This description was written by AI and may contain some inaccuracies.