For immediate release Ottawa, August 24, 2004

The appointment today of two hard-line judges, Judges Abella and Charron, both known to support specific agendas of their own, confirms that the Supreme Court of Canada is a political toy.

Madam Justice Rosalie Abella explained the power and biases of the judges best when she disclosed in a 1987 book, “Equality and Judicial Neutrality,” that every decision-maker who walks into a courtroom to hear a case is armed not only with the relevant legal text but with a set of values, experiences and assumptions that are thoroughly imbedded.

The imbedded biases of Judges Charron and Abella are well known in the legal community.

Madam Justice Louise Charron was Associate Director of the National Judicial Institute which promotes unconventional legal theories.

Judge Abella, who has spent only a very few months in the actual practice of law, has climbed up the political / legal ropes based on her reputation as a “human rights” activist. In fact, many of her decisions were based not on any established law, but rather on her own peculiar ideology. For example, in the case of Rosenberg (1998) Judge Abella ignored the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada (Nesbit v. Egan-1995). Although lower courts have traditionally been bound to adhere to the decisions of higher courts, especially the the Supreme Court, Abella simply dismissed the Supreme Court decision as “wrongly decided”, which arguably she had no jurisdiction to do.

The so-called “new” appointment system of judges is merely the “old” system whereby the Prime Minister still makes the appointment from a short list provided him by the Minister of Justice, and the latter only appears before a Parliamentary Committee to “review the qualifications and track records of the appointed judges.” The committee cannot vote on the appointments, there is no mechanism to object to nominations, and any decision of the Committee is not binding on the Prime Minister.

According to Canadian Justice Review Board director, lawyer Gwen Landolt:

“The appointment of Judges Charron and Abella confirms that the characteristics of impartiality and respect for parliamentary democracy and fairness are no longer qualifications for appointments to the court and confirms that judicial appointments are political toys to be used at the government’s discretion.

The credibility and integrity of the courts have been undermined by the appointments of Madam Justices Charron and Abella, and respect for this court is a part of the past.”

For further information contact:

C. Gwendolyn Landolt

(905) 787-0348, (905) 731-5425

(905) 889-1993