Top judges blast Toews for appointment changes Cristin Schmitz, The Ottawa Citizen In an unprecedented move, Canada's top judge and all provincial and territorial chief and associate chief justices have slammed Justice Minister Vic Toews for failing to consult with anyone before announcing major changes to the process for appointing federal judges. "We call upon the minister to initiate an immediate process of consultation on the proposed changes with the judiciary, the Canadian Bar Association and Law Societies, and other interested persons," Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said in a statement released late yesterday by the Canadian Judicial Council. "The council urges the government to maintain the status quo and refrain from implementing changes in order to allow meaningful consultation to take place. "We believe this is necessary to protect the interests of all Canadians in an independent advisory process for judicial appointments." The statement marks the first time the council of 36 chief justices has publicly taken any federal government to task in such a fashion. The council, which oversees Canada's 1,000 federal trial and appellate trial judges, was reacting to remarks made by Mr. Toews on Tuesday in which he said he plans major changes to the 16 five-person committees across the land that rate as "recommended," "unable to recommend" or "highly recommended" lawyers who apply for federal judgeships. Mr. Toews said he plans to add police representatives to the committee, which is largely composed of lawyers and judges, and remove the "highly recommended" rating for lawyers. The two-year terms of the advisory committees expired last week, leaving
no one to vet applicants for the bench. Mr. Toews said he wants to expand
the number of voices on the committee. |