Susan Whelan, a vice-chair at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal, has been appointed a justice of the
peace in her home community of Amherstburg, near Windsor.
She has been a tribunal member since Feb. 3, 2010, and her
term runs until Feb. 2, 2015.
She has also been executive director of The Rare Charitable
Research Reserve in Cambridge, a position she resigned when she learned of her
appointment as justice of the peace.
She has held the post for nearly two years. The
controversial property is considered prime development land, but people wanted
it preserved, so they raised money and arranged to keep it from development.
It was farmed and the owners willed it to the University of
Guelph, intending it to be used as a research centre.
The university decided it didn’t need the property, didn’t
want to maintain it, so put it up for sale.
Whelan is a daughter of former agriculture minister and Senator
Eugene Whelan, was elected in the same riding he held and served as the cabinet
minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency. She is
a lawyer.
Her appointment is effective Feb. 5.
