At age 37, Deborah Austin didn’t plan on applying to become an Ontario court judge.
“I thought I should wait ’til I was older,” she recalled Wednesday inside the Sarnia courthouse, “but I was encouraged by a lot of the lawyers here.”
Following what she remembered as a very intimidating interview process in front of a judicial appointments committee, Austin drove back to Sarnia from Toronto thinking she had no shot. But then she got the call and, in December 1992, became one of the youngest appointed judges in the province.
Austin, also one of the first female judges in the Sarnia area, felt like she stood out at those early judges’ meetings.
“I was like the little girl with all the old men with white hair,” she said. “There were very few women at the time.”
That’s changed now as, following a nearly 30-year career behind the bench, Austin and fellow Sarnia judge Anne McFadyen both officially retired Wednesday, although they’ll both still be working in courtrooms throughout Southwestern Ontario on a per-diem basis. McFadyen was away on vacation Wednesday while Austin was working as if it was an ordinary day, despite the bouquets of congratulatory flowers and cards being dropped off inside the Christina Street North courthouse.
“I feel uncomfortable to be celebrated. I don’t love that,” Austin said with a chuckle.
David Stoesser, a longtime Sarnia criminal defense lawyer called to the bar the same day as Austin – April 13, 1982 – said the word that stands out for him when reflecting on his career is compassion.
“She was always clear, fair, but she has that touch of compassion that I think is so very important in the life and the professional responsibilities of a judge,” he said Thursday over the phone.
David Rows, Lambton’s former Crown attorney, used the words knowledgeable, impartial, hard working, patient and compassionate to describe her career behind the bench.
“Justice Austin’s unwavering commitment to justice will leave a lasting legacy,” he said via email.
Nick Cake, who has worked cases in her courtrooms as both an assistant Crown attorney and a criminal defense lawyer, said Austin is one of the most compassionate and understanding judges he’s dealt with.
“She is always engaged, and you can always expect a tough question from her,” he said via email.
Originally from Markham, Austin studied at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School before coming to Sarnia in 1980. She worked as an articling student at what is now the Wyrzykowski and Robb law firm in Point Edward while her husband, Ken, worked at Dow Chemical.
Just a couple of years into her burgeoning law career, and with two young children at home, Austin had to make a difficult decision in the face of tragedy: Ken had been diagnosed with cancer and died at age 27.
“I decided then that this was my home,” she said. “This community was the right place to raise my kids and be able to manage the work-life balance that comes with being a single parent.”
Austin focused primarily on family law throughout the 1980s, but also worked on civil and criminal cases, including as a federal prosecutor. She also became firm partners with Ray Wyrzykowski and Bill Higgins.
“They became like family to me,” she said.
Both of her partners unexpectedly died by 1991 and then in 1992, now a mother of four, she got the call with the judge’s job offer. It meant she’d have to immediately leave the firm.
“I never regretted it,” she said. “It was an opportunity, but also a privilege and a responsibility, I felt, because you’re trusted to perform an important role in your community.”
Rows said Austin was a “driving force” in the creation of dedicated community-based courts for the First Nations communities in the Sarnia area, which significantly improved the delivery of justice in a culturally sensitive fashion.
“For me, that’s been a highlight because I’ve learned a lot from it and have seen a lot of successes in it and have seen it working better for the community than before it was there,” Austin said.
She was also named Sarnia’s administrative judge and, until early 2020, oversaw one of the most efficient charges-to-trials systems in the region. That all changed when the pandemic arrived and shuttered courtrooms across the province.
A couple of weeks later, they were up and running again with phone lines and Zoom video calls, although two-plus years later the backlog lingers.
“It was a really interesting time and I’m proud of our court,” she said. “There were hiccups for sure, but we still managed to function as a court.”
Austin presided over multiple high-profile cases over the decades, including the acquittal of a former national gymnastics coach of sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching in February 2019. Prior to hearing thousands of cases over three decades, Austin recalled the impact the late Justice A. Louis Eddy had on her blossoming career behind the bench.
“He was a judge who was just the kindest, most welcoming – a gentleman,” she said. “It was wonderful to work with him.”
Fellow Sarnia judges Mark Hornblower, McFadyen and Krista Lynn Leszczynski – the lone holdover amid the changes – were also anchors and wonderful colleagues, Austin said.
Then there was Bob Murray, a well-respected local lawyer who died in June 2020.
“He was important to me as a friend, a mentor and a colleague,” she said during Wednesday’s interview inside a law library dedicated in his honor.
Austin also raved about Justice Jonathon George, a hard-working local lawyer from the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation who’s steadily risen through the ranks before being appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal last December.
“That’s an under-recognized accomplishment from our area,” she said. “That’s something that Sarnia-Lambton should be very proud of.”
Now a grandmother, Austin plans to spend more time with family, travelling, hiking, and volunteering with Rayjon Share Care, a Sarnia-based not-for-profit founded by one of her late law partners that helps thousands in developing countries such as Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
But first she still has a lot of work to do.
“I’ve got almost as busy a schedule coming up as I had as a full-time judge,” she said. “I don’t withdraw to go out to pasture.”