News Releases

News Release - Manitoba

October 5, 2020

Province Announces Appointment of Two New Provincial Court Judges



The Manitoba government has appointed Cindy Lee Sholdice and Samuel Raposo as provincial court judges to serve in Winnipeg, Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced today.
 
“I’m pleased to announce the appointments of Cindy Lee Sholdice and Samuel Raposo as provincial court judges to serve in Winnipeg,” said Cullen. “Both of these individuals have demonstrated exemplary service to their communities over many years as attorneys in various capacities, and each is well-suited to sit on the provincial court of Manitoba.” 
 
Sholdice has been a Crown attorney with Manitoba Prosecution Service since her call to the bar in 1998, and has been general counsel since 2018. She has been a supervising senior Crown attorney with the High Risk Offender Unit and the General Prosecutions Unit. She is a Crown advisor on Project Devote, a task force that predominantly investigates cold cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Her work in the High Risk Offender Unit has given her significant exposure to, and appreciation of, the needs of individuals who suffer from mental health illness, as well as the opportunity to work with experts in this field. 
 
Sholdice has served on working groups such as Mental Disorders Working Group, the Mental Health Collaboration Committee (Probation Services) and has represented the Crown at numerous Review Board hearings. In August 2018, she presented a resolution at the Uniform Law Conference of Canada recommending a restorative-based initiative. In her role as general counsel, she enjoyed the responsibility of being a mentor to both junior and senior Crown attorneys in the office. Sholdice has been actively involved in volunteering in community activities, especially sports and music related programs. She has been on the Board of Directors for Lutheran Church Canada since 2014, and volunteers at the local church.
 
Raposo was called to the bar in 1998. As a private bar and staff attorney, he has acted on behalf of hundreds of individuals in criminal, family and child protection cases. Over the past 22 years, he has represented and assisted hundreds of disadvantaged individuals, particularly Indigenous peoples, people with disabilities and social assistance recipients. He was the deputy executive director of Legal Aid Manitoba from 2008 to 2019. During that time, he designed, developed and implemented several access to justice initiatives including weekend bail projects, evening and overnight bail programs, a clinical family law course (Robson Hall/Legal Aid Manitoba), an out-of-court family resolution project, pre-approval of out-of-custody matters and a staff criminal youth defence office reorganization. In July 2019, he took on the role of executive director and chief executive officer of Legal Aid Manitoba, and assembled a new management team.
 
Raposo recently served as a board member of the Canadian Mental Health Association (Winnipeg Branch) and the Community Legal Education Association. He also recently served as a member of the Law Society of Manitoba’s Access to Justice Steering Committee, the Complaints Investigation Committee, and served as one of the Law Society’s representatives at the National Action Committee on Access to Justice. Throughout his career, he mentored a high school student through the Manitoba Mentor Program and was a supervising attorney at the University of Manitoba Community Law Centre, supervising law students delivering representation services in criminal, civil and family matters.
 
Sholdice and Raposo were selected from a list of candidates recommended by the judicial appointment committee, chaired by Chief Judge Margaret Wiebe. This committee also included three community representatives, from the Law Society of Manitoba, the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Bar Association and a provincial court judge.  The appointment is effective immediately.
 
An official swearing-in ceremony will be scheduled for the appointees in the near future.
 
- 30 -