The Nova Scotia government has appointed two black lawyers, an openly gay lawyer and a female Crown attorney as judges. The appointments bring the provincial and family courts closer to gender and diversity balance. Premier Stephen McNeil announced the appointments of Rickcola Brinton, Amy Sakalauskas, Samuel Moreau and Rosalind Michie to the bench. That brings the number of full-time provincial and family court judges to 38, of which 18 are women and five are black.