In 1978, Justice André won a U.S. Aid Scholarship to study at the University of the West-Indies in Jamaica.  He read English, History and Philosophy at the University’s Mona Campus, and in 1981 graduated with a First Class Honours Degree and a Gold Medal for the Best Overall Performance in the University’s Faculty of Arts.

After a brief stint of teaching at the St. Mary’s Academy in Dominica, Justice André won a scholarship to do a Doctorate in History at The John Hopkins University.  He attended the university for two years but migrated to Canada before completion of his studies.

One year after arriving in Canada, Justice André attended the Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.  He graduated three years later after winning academic prizes in Labour and Immigration Law.  One of his essays entitled The Genesis and Persistence of the Caribbean Agricultural Workers Program in Canada, was published in the 1990 edition of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.  He articled at the Ontario Ministry of Labour and upon successful completion of his Bar Examinations, was called to the Ontario Bar in 1990.

Between 1990 and 2002, Justice André later worked as a prosecutor for the Ontario Ministry of Labour, an Assistant Crown Attorney in Brampton, a Criminal Defence Lawyer and a Vice-President of the Ontario Licence Appeals Tribunal.  In 2002 he was appointed as a judge in the Ontario Court of Justice where he presided as the Local Administrative Judge in the Region of Peel from 2010 to 2012.

Justice André earned a Master’s Degree in Law in 2006 and a Doctorate in Law in 2010. In 2012 Justice André was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in Brampton where he currently presides.

Justice André has received numerous community awards including the Dominica of Distinction Award, the Black History Makers Award, the YMCA Angel Award, the African Canadian Achievement Award, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, the University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor Award, the 2012 Harry Jerome Legacy Award and in 2018, one of seven graduates chosen for each decade of the UWI’s 70 year history.

Justice André has also written a number of books including A Century of Dominican Cricket, Strangers in Suffisant: British West Indians in Curacao, and biographies of Franklin Baron, Dominica’s first Chief Minister; Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominica’s first Premier; Dr. Desmond McIntyre, Dominica’s first surgeon; Dominican business pioneers Elias Nassief, Albert Cavendish Shillingford, Waddy Astaphan, and the late Ambassador Charles Maynard.  He also co-authored books with Washington-based attorney Gabriel Christian including In Search of Eden, and the Service and Sacrifice of the British West-Indian Military. His upcoming books are Rosie Douglas: Fearless Fighter For Freedom and Distant Voices: A Genesis of an Indigenous Literature in Dominica, Volume Three.

Justice André has been married for 34 years to his wife, Kathy.  The couple has two daughters, Melissa and Bianca.