The Justices of the Peace Appointments Advisory Committee (JPAAC) was established in 2007 following amendments to the Justices of the Peace Act. JPAAC’s duties are to classify applicants for appointment as justices of the peace and to report those classifications to the Attorney General. Justices of the peace are appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Attorney General.

Amendments to section 2.1 of the Justices of the Peace Act came into force on June 6, 2025 modifying the composition of the Committee. In accordance with the new provisions, JPAAC’s structure is as follows:

JPAAC consists of a core committee of up to four members, including a judge or a justice of the peace appointed by the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, a justice of the peace appointed by the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice who is either the Senior Indigenous Justice of the Peace or another justice of the peace familiar with indigenous issues, and two members appointed by the Attorney General.  In addition to the core members, the Committee will also include an alternate judge or justice of the peace to act in the absence of the core judicial members.

JPAAC has seven regional committees, one for each of the regions of the Ontario Court of Justice. These regional committees consist of the regional senior justice of the peace or their delegates, not more than three other members appointed by the Attorney General and a licensee (lawyer or paralegal) appointed by the Attorney General from a list of three names provided by the Law Society of Ontario. The Attorney General also designates one member of each regional committee as a regional lead and another member as an alternate regional lead.