Women now make up 51% of Nova Scotia's family and provincial court judges

Slightly more than half of Nova Scotia's provincial and family court judges are now women, which is a development applauded by theCanadian Civil Liberties Association.

On Friday, the Justice Department announced the appointment ofAnn Marie Simmons, chief federal prosecutorwith the PublicProsecution Service of Canada, to the bench.

That appointment brings the number of full-time femalejudges in provincial and family courts to 18. There are 35 full-time judges serving in those courts.

Earlier this year, New Brunswick became the first province to have an equal number of women and men on its provincial court after appointing five new female judges in April to achieve an even gendersplit amongst the 24 judges.

In a statement, Premier Stephen McNeilcalled achieving gender parity on the bench in provincial and family courts "a historic moment" for the province.

Simmonshas practiced law for 31 years. After almost a decade with Nova Scotia's Public Prosecution Service, she joined thePublic Prosecution Service of Canada's Atlantic officein 2005.

Civil liberties group would like to see more diversity

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association praised the development.

"I think it will be important to make sure it's something that's maintained," said Cara FaithZwibel, acting legal counsel.

She said it's important to improve the diversity of courts across the country in gender, race and other areas.

How Nova Scotia's other courts measureup

In Nova Scotia, there are 14 men and sixwomen serving as full-time supreme court judges. On the province's appeal court, there are five men and three women judges serving in a full-time capacity. There are also a number of other judges, men and women, working as supernumeraries, or on a part-time basis.

"Obviously, the appellate courts in the country are the ones that deal with a much smaller subset of cases, but the cases they deal with have impacts on a much broader number, so it is ...important to make sure there is good representation in all different types of courts," said Zwibel.