The Editorial Committee is pleased to introduce you to this issue’s Unsung Hero: Susanne Thompson. Many of the articles featured in this edition of Law Matters are focused on the impending (as of the date of writing this article) legalization of cannabis in Canada on October 17, 2018. The evolving legal landscape at all levels of government in advance of this change has been considerable, including changes to the provincial traffic safety laws to comply with the federal amendments on drug-impaired driving (an issue which Susanne has been extensively involved with in her role as a Crown Prosecutor). Her specialization is with respect to criminal driving, but she also prosecutes in the areas of commercial robbery and personal violence, along with advising police and training new Crown prosecutors. She has been extensively involved in considering and consulting on new driving-related offences and sits on a province-wide task force in relation to the new legislation.
On the issue of cannabis legalization, Susanne thinks this makes for an interesting time to be a criminal lawyer. She notes that on top of the legalization of cannabis, there has been a full-scale revamping of the transportation offences in the criminal code, and that more changes to other sections of the code are in the works (along with the expectation of forthcoming constitutional challenges to some of those provisions). While Susanne explains that her office already deals with people who drive while impaired by drugs, she anticipates some new and creative litigation on the issue of impairment and the new provisions that include regulated limits for cannabis.
Law is Susanne’s second career. She has a bachelor of music and a Master of Arts in music from the University of Alberta, and is a classical bassoon player (she may also hold the distinction of knowing more about Duke Ellington than any other member of the Alberta bar, he having been the focus of her masters). Her first career was working in the music industry running the business side of music organizations and festivals. While it was a career she found rewarding, it wasn’t always compatible with the organized and very logical thinker that she is. Susanne admits that those in the industry didn’t tend to be very organized or very logical thinkers; “which is not a bad thing. It’s just not my thing!” Thankfully, these are traits that ultimately led her to law school and then a career working for the Crown.
Susanne started law school at 35, and was quite certain at that time that criminal law was not going to be her focus. Her first criminal law class, however, convinced her otherwise. After graduating from the University of Alberta law school in 2009, Susanne practiced for a brief period of time with a criminal defence firm and then joined the Edmonton General Prosecutions office in February, 2011. Accordingly to Susanne, she hasn’t looked back since! Susanne takes a great deal of satisfaction from her career as a trial crown and happily talks about her role as allowing her to do the right thing every time by focusing on a just outcome for the public and for the accused. Her strengths in that role include her ability to focus on what is a fair and just outcome in the circumstances, whether that be negotiating a rehabilitative sentence for an offender so that he or she can get help to overcome the difficulties that led him or her to the criminal justice system, helping a grieving family understand the prosecution, or running a difficult trial and dealing with the challenging evidence and arguments that need to be addressed.
Susanne was born and raised in Edmonton, and is the first and only lawyer in her family. She manages her busy practice while being a mom to 2 children who she describes as being confident, capable and outstanding members of their communities (to which the reader must ask themselves, how could they not be, with a mom like Susanne?) Susanne’s husband (a successful jazz pianist and instructor at MacEwan University) and her two children share a love of music and travel. She continues to play classical bassoon with the Edmonton Winds, and has been a member of the executive for the past 3 years. While she hasn’t played the bassoon in Court (yet), she had the pleasure of performing for other lawyers in a “klezmer” band as part of the Players de Novo production in 2017.
We are privileged to count Susanne as a member of the bar in Alberta. Thanks Susanne for all the work that you do!