Whitehorse Daily Star

Northerners can apply for court seat

A northerner could become the newest judge on Canada’s highest court for the first time.

By Emily Blake on July 24, 2017

A northerner could become the newest judge on Canada’s highest court for the first time.

An advisory board tasked with selecting the new Supreme Court of Canada Justice is now accepting applications from qualified judges and lawyers in western and northern Canada.

The new justice will assume the seat of Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin. She is set to retire on Dec. 15, nine months before she reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75.

The seat is traditionally reserved for a judge from British Columbia, but applications are also open to qualified candidates from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and, for the first time, the three territories.

The territories do not currently have a representative on the court.

The Supreme Court Act requires that three justices be appointed from Quebec. And traditionally, three judges are selected from Ontario, two from the West, and one from Atlantic Canada.

The seven-member independent and non-partisan advisory board will review applicants and submit a shortlist of three to five individuals to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for consideration.

To be selected, they must be “of the highest calibre, functionally bilingual, and representative of the diversity of Canada.”

“I look forward to receiving their recommendations, and to naming Canada’s next Justice of the Supreme Court,” Trudeau said in a statement last Monday.

Once the new justice has been selected, Trudeau will determine which of the nine justices will serve as the Chief Justice.

Supreme Court Justices earn an annual salary of $367,300 and the Chief Justice $396,700.

Last Monday, Trudeau announced the members of the advisory board:

• chairperson Kim Campbell, a former Justice minister who was briefly a Conservative prime minister in 1993 and a former Canadian Consul General;

• Camille Camerson, dean of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University and chair of the Canadian Council of Law Deans;

• Stephen Kakfwi, a former premier of the N.W.T. and president of the Dene Nation;

• Sheila MacPherson, president-elect of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, a senior lawyer in Yellowknife and law clerk of the Legislative Assembly of the N.W.T.;

• Lilli-Anna Pereša, president and executive director of Centraide of Greater Montréal;

• Richard J. Scott, former Chief Justice of Manitoba Court of Appeal; and

• Susan Ursel, a senior partner with Toronto firm Ursel Phillips Fellows Hopkinson LLP, and chair of the Canadian component of the African Legal Research Team.

In August 2016, the Liberal government announced the new process for judicial appointments to the Supreme Court, with the advisory board’s creation.

The process was used for the first time in 2016 to appoint Justice Malcolm Rowe following the retirement of Justice Thomas Cromwell.

“The new approach launched last year to select justices of the Supreme Court proved highly successful,” Trudeau said.

“I am delighted that the advisory board will again be chaired by former prime minister Kim Campbell, and I welcome the newest member, Ms. Sheila MacPherson, to this important board.”

The search for the newest addition to the Supreme Court began July 14.

The application period will end Sept. 15.

Comments (3)

Up 5 Down 0

Just Say'in on Jul 27, 2017 at 4:03 pm

Careful. Do you want any of our Judges?

Up 4 Down 0

Dr Mantis Toboggan on Jul 25, 2017 at 2:47 pm

Where do I apply??

Up 12 Down 4

jc on Jul 24, 2017 at 9:50 pm

Very impressive. What's the chances of that happening within the next 150 years? Waste of media space. Besides, we're still looking for a judge that can make a wise judgement.

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