Crown
Continued From Page 1
14 per cent of lawyers appointed
to the federal Bench had worked
as Crowns or government lawyers.
Looking at the entire period
since the Conservatives formed
their second minority government
in October 2008, about 31 per
cent of lawyers appointed to the
federal Bench had Crown or government experience.
(These figures don’t include
provincial court judges who were
elevated to the federal Bench, or
Superior Court judges who were
“promoted” into appellate or senior administrative posts—
although more than a quarter of
those judges also had prosecutorial or government experience.
However it should be noted that
some lawyers with prosecutorial
experience also have experience as
defence counsel.)
Nicholson’s spokesperson,
Pamela Stephens, declined to
comment on the number of
Crowns being appointed, or to
address whether the government
hopes thereby to enhance judicial
support for its so-called “tough-
on-crime” policies.
were assessed by judicial advisory
committees in the year ending
Oct. 31, 2010 were rejected as
“unable to recommend.”
That compares to 64 per cent
rejected by the vetting committees
in the year ending Oct. 31, 2009.
The number of jurists who
applied for a spot on the federal
Bench in 2010 was 441 (including
19 provincial court judges). This
was down slightly from 460 applications (including 14 provincial
court judges) in 2009.
Meanwhile the Conservatives
are still accusing Liberal-appointed judges of thwarting
their policies and legal agenda
(e.g. last month Immigration
Minister Jason Kenney slammed
the Federal Court’s judges for failing to “respect” his officials’ decisions). Those complaints are ringing increasingly hollow.
Since coming to power more
than five years ago, the Harper
government has made 399 judicial appointments (including elevations), according to Stephens.
Appointment of women judges low
That amounts to 46 per cent
of Canada’s 867 full time judges
as of March 1, or 36 per cent of
the total 1111 judges (including
244 supernumeraries).
By comparison the Liberals
made only 354 appointments in a
period of more than seven
years — from Jan. 1, 1997 to March
31, 2004.
The number of current or former prosecutors and government lawyers being appointed as
judges by the Conservatives has
been rising.
A previously published Law-
yers Weekly analysis of the Harper
government’s judicial appoint-
ments in the year after it was first
elected Jan. 23, 2006 showed that
28 per cent of judicial elevations
and appointments to the superior
trial and appellate courts across
the country went to those with
experience as prosecutors or gov-
ernment lawyers.
Calling all
Bencher Candidates!
2011 Bencher Election
Advertising Section in
Ontario Reports & The Lawyers Weekly
— February 18 to April 15 —
The Conservatives are
appointing fewer women to the
Bench than their numbers may
warrant, a Lawyers Weekly
analysis discloses.
Since Prime Minister Stephen
Harper was elected to his second
minority government Oct. 14,
2008, only 27 per cent (36 of 133)
of the lawyers appointed to the
provincial superior or appellate
courts, and the Federal and Tax
Courts, have been women.
By contrast, in Canada’s lar-
gest province last year, 39 per
cent of lawyers were women
( 16,336 v. 25,833 men). And in
2009, 35 per cent of British Col-
umbia practitioners were women
( 3,573 v. 6,672 men), according
to the law societies.
During the Liberals’ last year
in office in 2005, 41 per cent of
judicial appointments went to
women.
Right now nearly 30 per cent
of Canada’s federal judges are
women (328 of 1,111 judges).
That’s not enough, says Rod
Snow, president of the Canadian
Bar Association (CBA).
“The number of women on the
Bench still doesn’t fully reflect
the gender balance in the coun-
try, or in the profession,” Snow
told The Lawyers Weekly.
“Women need to comprise more
than 30 per cent of the Bench,
and more women will have to be
appointed to get us there.”
Snow emphasized that “the
CBA supports the merit principle
in judicial appointments, and a
Bench that ultimately represents
the diversity of Canada as a
whole.”
Joanna Birenbaum, litigation
director with the Women’s Legal
Education and Action Fund
(LEAF), urged the government to
be “more proactive” in appointing
women to the
Bench because
“the justice sys-
tem needs to
better reflect
the legal profes-
sion and those
who come
before the
courts.”
However a spokesperson for
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson
told The Lawyers Weekly the per-
centage of women appointed to
the federal Bench “reflects the
number of women lawyers who
actually applied for these pos-
itions and were recommended
for appointment by the Judicial
Advisory Committees” which vet
lawyers’ applications.
Pamela Stephens declined to
disclose the number of applica-
tions from women, but noted
“the government will continue to
select, and recommend for
appointment, women and men of
indisputable merit and legal
excellence, with input from a
broad range of stakeholders.”
A survey of the government’s
press releases on judicial appoint-
ments reveals that women judges
were less successful than their
male counterparts in getting
Prime Minister Harper’s nod for
the top leadership positions in
Birenbaum
the judiciary.
Since October 2008, only 17
per cent of judicial elevations to
chief justice or associate chief
justice went to women (two of 12
such promotions).
However female judges fared
better in getting promoted to the
nation’s courts of appeal—mak-
ing up 33 per cent of the appoint-
ments (eight women as com-
pared to 16 men).
Slicing the numbers differ-
ently, of the provincial court
judges appointed to the federal
Bench and the superior court
judges elevated to the courts of
appeal by the Conservatives, 33
per cent were women.
Law Society of Upper Canada
statistics for 2010 show that 54
per cent of Ontario lawyers under
age 40 are women.
Women also make up 44 per
cent of lawyers in the 40 to 49
age category (when lawyers begin
to be appointed to the Bench).
However women still repre-
sent only 29 per cent of lawyers
in the 50 to 65 age category.
Historical information previ-
ously compiled by the Office of
the Commissioner for Federal
Judicial Affairs for the period
between April 1, 2004 and March
31, 2007 (spanning roughly
equal periods of successive Lib-
eral and Conservative govern-
ments) discloses that new judges
during that time ranged in age
from 41 to 65, with ages 48 and
57 being the most common times
for appointment. — By Cristin
Schmitz
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