THE ADVOCATE 281
VOL. 79 PART 2 MARCH 2021
NEW JUDGE
By R.C. Tino Bella
The Honourable Judge Karina Sacca
A commotion erupted in the lobby of Sheridan,
Ippolito & Sacca, where Karina Sacca, freshly minted
partner, had just begun her day. A distressed hygienist
cried out that the dentist across the hall had been
stabbed. Without a second’s hesitation, Karina was
up from her desk and out the front door, charging
across the hall where she found the dentist bleeding
from a neck wound, instruments strewn across the floor. Karina, a petite
thirty-something female, wrestled the fifty-something male assailant (a
clearly disgruntled patient) to the ground, subdued him and kept him there
until the police arrived. Not a typical way for a lawyer’s day—even a family
lawyer’s day—to begin. But this story and its sentiment are a good place for
us to begin Karina Sacca’s story, as this kind of fearlessness is a thread that
has woven itself through key moments in her life. In her actions that day,
Karina displayed hallmarks of her character: the courage to act and a desire
to help others. “Cross your fingers, jump in and hope for the best,” she
summed up at the end of our interview for this article.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Karina moved to Canada with her mother
when she was eight years old. She left behind her father, half-siblings, numerous
cousins and an ethos where family relationships and social events were
intertwined with food culture: sharing a meal, generous hospitality and conversations
over food. These were important elements of Argentinian culture
learned in childhood that still remain an important part of her life.
In the deep of an Ontario winter, Karina arrived in the then-small town of
Barrie. Her furrier grandfather had lovingly outfitted her for the harsh Canadian
winter with a bulky and unusual sheepskin coat. Karina says she resembled
Paddington Bear. She remembers standing in the playground and not