Justice Faisal Mirza serves at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Central West Region.
Prior to being appointed to the judiciary, he practiced trial and appellate litigation for twenty years in the areas of criminal, constitutional and regulatory law. He frequently argued leading cases at the Ontario Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada.
He also served as a member of the National Security Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) which provides the government of Canada with independent accountability of national security and intelligence activities.
He is an Adjunct Professor at both the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law co-teaching Sentencing and at Osgoode Hall co-teaching Advanced Criminal Law. He is also an Instructor in National Security and the Law at the University of Toronto Political Science Department.
He is the author of Criminal Jury Charge Practice and several articles about criminal procedure and sentencing.
He is a co-founder of the Sentencing and Parole Project which addresses anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination in the criminal justice system.
He was a Director of The Advocates’ Society which partnered with the Court of Appeal to establish the Advocacy Skills Training Series for members of diversity associations.
He served as Past President of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association and co-founded the Muslim Legal Support Centre. He is contributor to various education initiatives with the South Asian Bar Association, Criminal Lawyers Association, and Lincoln Alexander School of Law.
He was granted the Ontario Bar Association Award in Criminal Law, consistently recognized by Best Lawyers magazine as one of Canada’s leading appellate lawyers and was granted the Diversity Award by the South Asian Bar Association.
He is a graduate of UofT (B.A., and M.A.) and Osgoode Hall (LL.B.). Prior to being called, he articled at Greenspan Humphrey Lavine and worked for the Hon. Fred Kaufman (Que C.A.) and Mark Sandler on a government commissioned review.