The Winkler Institute was established on the occasion of the retirement of the Hon Warren Winkler’s, former Chief Justice of Ontario, to honour his many important contributions to dispute resolution and access to justice. The Winkler Institute was widely supported through the generous donations of many friends and supporters within and beyond the Canadian justice community.
Warren Winkler
The Honourable Warren K. Winkler, OC, OOnt, KC, BA, LLB (Osgoode '62), LLM (Osgoode '64), LLD (Hon, York '03), is as one of Canada’s leading mediators, having mediated, some of Canada's most significant and complex labour, corporate and class action disputes.
Mr. Winkler served as Chief Justice of Ontario and President of the Court of Appeal from 2007 until his retirement in 2013. From 1993 to 2007, he sat as a trial judge on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, serving as Regional Senior Justice for the Toronto Region for several years. During his tenure on the bench, Mr. Winkler was also Vice Chair of the Canadian Judicial Council. A founding partner of Winkler, Filion and Wakely, he practised as an influential labour and class action lawyer.
Mr. Winkler has helped resolve significant disputes, including: Air Canada’s restructuring; Ontario Hydro and Power Workers; the Windsor-Michigan Tunnel; CanWest/Shaw Cable restructuring; Algoma Steel restructuring; and the arbitration of the dispute between the University of Toronto and its faculty. He has decided and administered many major class action proceedings including those relating to: Bre-X; Hepatitis C; Breast Implants; Tobacco; Walkerton tainted water; Mad Cow Disease; and Native Residential Schools.