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Ottawa Sticks with New Process to Fill Supreme Court Vacancies LITIGATION SUPPORT DIGITAL ARCHIVING Call: 1-888-781-9083 ext. 117 E-mail: [email protected] www.docudavit.com SCAN I CODE I LOAD Vol. 36, No. 25 NOVEMBER 4, 2016 lawyersweekly.ca Grit reforms Ottawa sticks with new process on judgeships to fill Supreme Court vacancies not ‘enough’ Cristin SCHMITZ Allowing applications from across country maintains top court’s ‘regional character,’ justice minister says OT TAWA The federal government’s judicial Cristin SCHMITZ appointment reforms leave the OT TAWA door open to business as usual in the hiring of federal judges below Despite some pushback from the the Supreme Court of Canada, organized bar, the federal govern- say critics who want Ottawa to ment says it is sticking with a new end the long federal tradition of process for choosing Supreme using judicial appointments as Court judges that recently gave patronage plums. lawyers a rare glimpse into the As Justice Minister Jody Wil- mind of its first nominee, Justice son-Raybould announced 24 Malcolm Rowe. long-awaited appointments to At the Commons Justice Com- the country’s superior courts Oct. mittee Oct. 24, Justice Minister 20, she also unveiled changes Jody Wilson-Raybould said she that the Canadian Bar Associa- was very pleased with the reforms tion (CBA) and the NDP wel- that culminated in her govern- comed for bringing some divers- ment’s choice of the 63-year-old ity and transparency to what has Newfoundland and Labrador been a shadowy backroom pro- Court of Appeal judge. cess for appointing mostly white “Further refinements” are pos- and male judges. sible, but the government intends At the same time, Justin Tru- to use the new process for future deau’s Liberals left intact their Supreme Court appointments, government’s near-unfettered including the vacancy expected in discretion to use judgeships as 2018 when the Chief Justice of political rewards, while rejecting Canada, Beverley McLachlin, Despite objections from various groups, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, left, with former prime minister recommendations by the CBA, reaches mandatory retirement, Kim Campbell at the Commons Justice Committee in Ottawa Oct. 24, was pleased with the new Supreme Court among others, who have long she said. selection process. ROY GROGAN FOR THE LAWYERS WEEKLY called for the creation of “We believe our selection process independent, non-partisan nom- is in keeping with the values of ment’s expressed willingness to “Applications were invited from explained. “This was also to ensure inating bodies that can create Canadians today and that it will… depart from the constitutional con- anywhere in the country to support that the most outstanding jurists in ranked short lists of the best can- support a modern Supreme Court vention of regional representation our goal of ensuring that our high- the country, regardless of where didates for judicial office, from of Canada that is reflective of, and on the top court in order to appoint est court moves towards a better they live, have the opportunity to be which the government appoints responsive to, those values,” Wil- the first indigenous or racialized and fuller reflection of the diversity considered for vacancies as they (as occurs for Ontario’s provincial son-Raybould said of her govern- jurist to that bench. of Canadians,” Wilson-Raybould Rowe, Page 27 Rankin, Page 11 PERSONAL INJURY NEWS BUSINESS & CAREERS Trouble on Homeless then Business cards the plate debt-free now still important Food allergies causing Legal clinic helps man Simple, yet overlooked more restaurant liability clear $65,000 in tickets element of marketing PAGE 12 PAGE 5 PAGE 23 We put our lawyer and notary clients front and centre Ally and we put our efforts into keeping real estate transactions where they belong – in your office. Learn more about our level of support, call (888) 667-5151 or visit stewart.ca. 40065517 NO. AGREEMENT MAIL PUBLICATIONS www.lawyersweekly.ca/subscribe To subscribe to The Lawyers Weekly, The subscribe to Lawyers To visit © 2015 Stewart. All rights reserved. THE LAWYERS WEEKLY NOVEMBER 4, 2016 • 11 News Rankin: Government must move ‘expeditiously’ Continued from page 1 by a JAC [judicial advisory com- ters [of the members] in 2014.” court bench, for example). mittee] on the basis of identified In the wake of the controversy The reformed process leaves merit criteria,” Basque told The involving Federal Court Justice the government free to appoint Lawyers Weekly. Robin Camp — whose handling its own friends and supporters He welcomed the government’s of a sexual assault case in prov- over the heads of better-quali- commitment to collect and pub- incial court, sparked public calls fied jurists, notwithstanding the lish demographic data on who for his removal this year — the Liberals’ election pledge to applies for the bench and who is government has announced implement “a government-wide, appointed — which may be key to provincial court judges will now open and merit-based appoint- understanding why the numbers have to apply for the federal ments process” that “will ensure of female, racialized and indigen- bench, and be vetted by the JACs gender parity and that more ous judges still do not reflect (provincial court judges were indigenous peoples and minority their numbers in society or the formerly presumed to be quali- groups are reflected in positions profession. fied for promotion). of leadership.” “We look forward to working The government also said law- “Concerns about sticky fingers with the minister [of justice] to yers in the pool of candidates remain,” said Dalhousie Univer- achieve our shared goal of approved by the Conservative- sity Schulich School of Law pro- increasing diversity on the appointed JACs must re-apply, fessor Richard Devlin, a director Yes there are some bench,” Basque said by e-mail. I think everyone knew using the Liberals’ new ques- of the International Commission improvements here. In a controversial change to the the existing system tionnaires, “to ensure that the of Jurists — Canada (ICJ-Can- judicial appointment process reconstituted JACs are assess- ada), and chair of the Canadian But they fall far made without consultation with wasn’t working, and ing all candidates based on the Association for Legal Ethics. short of the ‘Cape the bench or bar in 2006, the wasn’t transparent, so same information fields pro- “Yes there are some improve- Town Principles’ previous Conservative govern- giving people a window vided by applicants. The new ments here,” Devlin said of the ment added a representative of questionnaire elicits more reforms. “But they fall far short and do not go far police to the JACs, while remov- into the process and detailed information from can- of the ‘Cape Town Principles’ enough to enhance ing the vote of the judicial the criteria should, didates regarding their back- and do not go far enough to chair — effectively giving that ground, experience and bilin- enhance the transparency, rep- the transparency, government a majority vote in I hope, boost public gual capacity. resentativeness and independ- representativeness and rating judicial candidates. confidence. Rankin said “this is a concern ence of the appointments pro- independence of the The Liberal reforms reverse because, despite the recent round cess,” he said by e-mail. this, with the new seven-member Murray Rankin of appointments, there are still The “Cape Town Principles on appointments process. JACs to comprise one nominee NDP Justice critic twice as many judicial vacancies the Role of Independent Com- each from the applicable provin- today as when this government missions in the Selection and Richard Devlin cial or territorial law society, the took office…so the government Appointment of Judges” were Dalhousie University CBA, the bench and the provin- has to ensure it moves exped- rolled out this year as part of an cial or territorial attorney gen- itiously to fill these vacancies international research project by eral. “We…welcome rebalancing under the new process.…After Devlin and scholars from Kenya, of the voting process on the JACs the selection and training [of Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa ernment chooses to appoint a so that the majority of the votes so by receiving training on divers- JACs members] we may not see and the U.K., in collaboration jurist in the “recommended” cat- no longer reside in the minister’s ity, unconscious bias, and the the first [judicial] appointments with the British Institute of Inter- egory over those in the “highly control,” Basque said. assessment of merit — in line until the new year, which could national and Comparative Law. recommended” category (without The government announced it with a recommendation earlier be problematic.” They aim to give practical guid- disclosing confidential informa- has disbanded the seven Conserv- this year from the ICJ-Canada Valerie Gervais, spokeswoman ance to legislators and others by tion of chosen candidates). ative-appointed JACs still in oper- which studied opportunities for for Wilson-Raybould, said the identifying ways in which pro- CBA president René Basque ation — most have been defunct reform in the federal judicial JACs will be trained and recon- cesses for the selection and applauded many of the govern- for a year — and will reconstitute appointment process. stituted before 2017 and the gov- appointment of judges can ment’s changes, including its them “to be more representative “We welcome these long over- ernment anticipates making strengthen the independence of reinstatement of the “highly rec-
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