THE ADVOCATE 749
VOL. 80 PART 5 SEPTEMBER 2022
learned that it had been called “Unchagah”, which meant “Peace”. The first
trading post in British Columbia was built in 1794 on the Peace River just to
the north of Dawson Creek, at Fort St. John. The writer honours and
acknowledges the First Nations and Métis communities in this area.
Readers of these brief biographies of new judges look for different things.
Some want a bit of background about the appointee. Some look for assurance
that the standards for appointing judges have not lapsed. Others seek
the interesting, and still others seek the unusual.
For the first kind of reader, Tamera’s roots are in California and Alberta.
She admires her forebearers’ homesteading and land-breaking past.
Tamera articled and practised law for her entire career in Dawson Creek.
It is fitting, then, that she now sits in the Northern Region with chambers
in Dawson Creek. Tamera’s articles were with Bill Pope. She shifted to Stasiuk
and Company, where she did a lot of family work. She then shifted to
Plenert Higson and a more general litigation practice. Toward the end of her
stay there, she was called to the Yukon bar to do personal injury defence
work in Whitehorse as well as British Columbia. However, an opportunity
opened at the Crown, and she moved to become a prosecutor. This morphed
to a focus on historical sexual assault cases.
Tamera is happily married to Rod. They have two children. One attends
UBC in Kelowna, and the other just graduated from that institution.
For the reader focused on whether the new appointee fits the bill as a
judge, rest assured that Tamera is very organized. She likes things to be done
right. More importantly, perhaps, she also wants things to work comfortably.
Her personality is such that while she makes sure things work and are done
properly, she does it in a way that leaves people at ease with it, or in the
courtroom setting, as comfortable as is appropriate to the context. A person
she worked with at Crown, who is now part of the diaspora of former Dawson
Creek lawyers who became judges, explained that Tamera genuinely
cares about those with whom she works and those with whom she deals, and
has a grace that makes things comfortable. The skill is applied not only so
people get along, but also so that things move along. Tamera offers a wonderful
balance of warmth and motivation. This same judge noted that Tamera
relishes being in court, and wanted work that took her there.
Another member of the diaspora, a former defence counsel, said that
Tamera was competent, reliable, someone he could trust and effective in
court. She could adopt a colloquial manner that helped witnesses. A third,
for more than one vacancy, strongly hoped she would apply for the position
of judge and encouraged her to do so. A fourth said that she was hardworking
and always prepared, never had confrontations with defence counsel