Grande Prairie’s Willie de Wit is one of four new judges appointed by the federal government. All four are headed to Alberta, with de Wit and one other replacing outgoing judges in Calgary, and the other two going to Red Deer and Edmonton.
The Olympian and former world amateur heavyweight boxing champ is a criminal defence lawyer in Calgary. Before being called to the bar in 1995, he won the heavyweight championship in 1983. He first won a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1982, and followed that up with an Olympic silver in 1984.
Ottawa has also pledged $55 million over five years starting in 2017-18 for 28 new federally-appointed judges. That will be followed by $15.5 million annually after that. 12 more of the judges will be coming to Alberta to help with the case backlog.