Colonel Michael Gibson, MSM, CD

Originally from Strathroy, Ontario, Colonel Michael Gibson joined the Canadian Forces in 1980. He initially flew as an Air Navigator in the Air Force doing passenger, cargo, VIP and air-to-air refuelling missions on the CC-130 Hercules and Boeing 707 aircraft. He also served as a strategic airlift operations planner at Air Transport Group Headquarters Trenton, and as a Platoon Officer training officer candidates on the Basic Officer Training Course.

After becoming a Legal Officer, Colonel Gibson served in a variety of positions, including Deputy Judge Advocate Trenton, Director of Military Justice Policy and Research, and Director of International and Operational Law. He has been prosecution, defence and appellate counsel, and has had significant involvement in recent legislation affecting the military justice system as policy architect, instructing counsel for the drafting of legislation, and as a witness before Parliamentary committees. He has also published several articles on international human rights law and the administration of justice by military tribunals, and was formerly the President of the Canadian National Group of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War. Immediately prior to his appointment as a Military Judge, Colonel Gibson was the Deputy Judge Advocate General Military Justice, responsible for military justice policy, legislative reform and strategic initiatives concerning the Canadian military justice system.

Colonel Gibson’s service as an officer in the Canadian Forces has taken him to over 60 countries around the world. His operational deployments abroad included Legal Advisor to the Canadian Contingent of the NATO Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Legal Advisor to the Disaster Assistance Response Team on its deployment to assist victims of an earthquake in Turkey, Deputy Legal Advisor at the NATO SFOR Headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Senior Military Law Advisor for the Rule of Law Unit of MONUC, the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Colonel Gibson is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada (Honours B.A. Political Science and History), the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (LLB) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (M.Sc. International Relations, and LLM Public International Law).

The Governor in Council appointed Colonel Gibson as a Military Judge on 1 October 2013.

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