Judge’s Retirement Ends Era

Until his official retirement on August 20th, 2009 from the Ontario Court of Justice, the Honourable Mr. Justice Harry Momotiuk was the first and only Ukrainian Canadian judge in the City of Windsor, Ontario (population 220,000). The most recent roster of some 220 Ontario justices indicates that he is the second longest-serving judge in the entire Province.

In the year 2000, His Honour was also the first Canadian judge to complete a multi-year program at the prestigious Institute for Court Management in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, earning him the title “Fellow of the Institute for Court Management”. In that year, he joined 896 other Fellows from the USA and eight other countries, who also earned this title at the Institute, since its foundation in 1970 by the late Honourable Warren E. Burger, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Harry Momotiuk obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Detroit in 1960, and in 1964, a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Ottawa. After passing his Bar Admission exams, he was admitted in 1966 to the Bar of Law Society of Upper Canada. Thereafter, he practiced law in Windsor for six years, and was Assistant Crown Attorney for two years. Throughout his career he completed some twenty computer and management related courses.

During his 33 year judicial tenure (1976-2009), Justice Momotiuk not only adjudicated in his court hundreds of law violations but also regularly lectured at the University of Windsor, Windsor’s St. Clair College, and intermittently at RCMP continuous education programs. For five years, he held an administrative post as a Regional Senior Judge, Provincial and Southwest Ontario Division. In addition, he was always an active participant - and frequently a leader - in several professional, social, religious and Ukrainian-oriented organizations.

The Windsor-born, 75 years young, retired Justice Momotiuk is happily married for 42 years to Irene (nee Martyniuk), a Registered Nurse and for twenty years now a volunteer host of a weekly one-hour radio program “Sounds of Ukraine”, broadcast from the University of Windsor campus radio station. The Momotiuks are proud parents of one daughter and two sons, and grandparents of one granddaughter and one grandson.

Perhaps a most fitting way to recognize the official departure from the realm of jurisprudence of the retiree   (the esteemed jurist, teacher, ardent patron of Ukrainian community events and undoubtedly the most prominent member of Windsor’s ten thousand strong Ukrainian Canadian family) is to salute him with a final call “ALL RISE!” and the vigorous singing of  Многая Літа.