Nova Scotia has hired its first Crown attorney dedicated to the prosecution of human trafficking offences.
Crown attorney Josie McKinney is a member of the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet First Nations and a graduate of the Indigenous Black and Mi’kmaq Initiative at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
McKinney has prosecuted hundreds of criminal cases including homicides, sexual assaults and cases of child luring – and she is a member of the Public Prosecution Service’s sexual assault working group and the equity and diversity committee.
The director of Public Prosecutions, Martin Herschorn, says McKinney has extensive experience dealing with vulnerable witnesses.
After graduating from Dalhousie Law School in 2006, McKinney articled with the Nova Scotia Department of Justice.
In 2011, McKinney was appointed a Crown attorney in Yarmouth and later moved to the Halifax office in 2018.