RJH SummaryCurriculum Vitae
February7, 2024
R. John Harper graduated from DalhousieUniversity Law School in Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1972. He was called tothe Ontario Bar in March 1974. He was a sole practitioner from 1974 until 1997,when he formed the family law partnership of Harper Jaskot.
He was certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as aspecialist in family law. He practiced family law until his appointment to theOntario Superior Court of Justice in September of 2006 sitting in the FamilyCourt at London, Ontario.
Before he was appointed to as a Justice of the SuperiorCourt, in addition to his law practice he was a part-time associate professorin the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at McMaster University.In this position, he presented to Psychiatry residence on how to live at theintersection of law and mental health. He was also Chair of the Consent andCapacity Board of Ontario in 2003. This Board, among other things wasresponsible to hearings related to involuntary admissions to psychiatricfacilities and a person’s capacity to make decisions in the domains of medicaltreatment, care and placement in care facilities.
As a lawyer he was also the legal advisor to the ChildAdvocacy and Assessment Program at McMaster University Hospital. He is a pastvice-chair of the Community Child Abuse Council. He acted as counsel fornumerous Children’s Aid Societies dealing with extreme child abuse issues.
Justice Harper has been a frequent presenter at continuingeducation programs, both national and international. He was a member of theboard of directors of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, theAdvocates Society, Ontario Bar Association and the Hamilton Law Association. Hewas president of the latter Association in 1985.
In September 2010, he was appointed the Senior Family Judgeof the Superior Court of Ontario. He served in that capacity until November2013. In November of 2023 he was chambered in the Central South Region atBrantford, Ontario and until 2021 and then chambered at the John SopinkaCourthouse in Hamilton, Ontario.
The Honourable R John Harper, retired as a Superior CourtJudge in October 2023.
At the time of his retirement, he started his new venture,Harpers Law Chambers. He is now dedicating his time doing mediation,arbitration, advocacy training and consulting.
The Honourable R John Harper, writes articles on legalissues, especially centred around family law. Many of the articles arepublished on his web site harperschambers.com.
Most recently his paper entitled:” But What About Me”, waspublished in the Canadian Family Law Quarterly and may be accessed at Westlaw Online.This is his story of the many high conflict cases Justice Harper presided overfrom the perspective of the children. It is a visual depiction of the children’spain and emotional distress while living through their parents’ separation andextended conflict. The paper urges changes in the administration of familyjustice to allow for the children to have resources for them during the legalproceedings to reduce the devastating impact on them.