Shirley C. MacLean, K.C.
Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick
Shirley C. MacLean is from Baddeck, Cape Breton. After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Francis Xavier University in 1984, she attended Laval University in Quebec City to study French.
In 1990, Shirley MacLean obtained her law degree from University of New Brunswick. She practised law with Hanson Hashey in Fredericton and then joined the Law Society of New Brunswick in 1994 as the Director of Admissions. In 2003, Ms. MacLean became the Society’s Assistant Executive Director and Registrar of Complaints.
In December 2013, Shirley MacLean was appointed Queen’s Counsel. In 2016 Ms. MacLean became the Chair of the Mental Health Tribunal in Fredericton since 2016.
Very involved in her community, Shirley MacLean is a board member of the Healing and Cancer Foundation, member of a patent navigator pilot project in oncology with Horizon Health, is a member of a Syrian Refugee Sponsorship Committee. She is a board member of the New Brunswick Highland Games Festival, and she has started playing tenor drum with a local competition pipe band.
Shirley MacLean was appointed Commissioner of on January 2, 2020, for a seven-year term, she is the third person and the first anglophone to hold this position.
The Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick is an independent officer of the Legislative Assembly. Her role is to investigate, report on and make recommendations with regard to compliance with the Official Languages Act. She is also responsible for the promotion of the advancement of both official languages in the province.