Status of Women committee  In terms of the suggestion that they should indicate the level of their training, and then that feeds into the process, I think that's a practical way to ensure you have an understanding of what level the candidate sits at with respect to particular areas of law that are a challe

Status of Women committee  The training is offered at different levels for judges. When you are talking about going beyond that, I think you will have coordination issues, and it's probably going to fall to the federal government to ensure some level of consistency, and that's going to require resources. A

Status of Women committee  There needs to be mandatory training, but respecting the jurisdictions of the various institutions, including the judiciary.

Status of Women committee  At this point, I'll disclose that I provided assistance to the government in the drafting of the new questionnaire for the appointment of Supreme Court of Canada justices, which for the first time required candidates to fill out a lengthy questionnaire. At a social event, Justice

Status of Women committee  I have two points. First, we need resources to monitor and collect statistics about decisions that are being made at every stage of the process. There was just this incredible story that revealed these unfounded rates. That took so much independent investigation by a very commit

Status of Women committee  I'm certainly a proponent of lifelong learning, no matter what the endeavour. I am a proponent of that for lawyers generally, and judges have a responsibility to ensure that they continue to be educated. I would agree with the comments in the previous panel. I do think that is

Status of Women committee  Here are a couple of quick comments. First, on the content of the training specified under the Judges Act that is to be completed to the satisfaction of the commissioner, I think it might be helpful to appreciate that those really relate to different kinds of knowledge deficien

Status of Women committee  I would agree with that. There is great complexity in how you train on these issues. They do really merge in terms of when you are actually sitting in that role, and having to decide cases involving complainants and accused persons from all different backgrounds. There is a risk

Status of Women committee  Thank you very much. It's an honour to be here. As a professor, I teach both constitutional and criminal law. Before joining the academy I worked for the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, litigating cases affecting women's equality. I was privileged to have participated i

Justice committee  I would add that the Supreme Court has, in other cases, refused to answer reference questions in circumstances where the court felt the issue was moot, it was not ripe, it had been put forward in circumstances that might contribute to uncertainty. That led to the Supreme Court re

Justice committee  It comes from a historical division of functions between people called to the bar in the common law system, between barristers and solicitors. The term now is “barristers and advocates”, but it all refers to qualified members of the bar.

Justice committee  My interpretation of section 6 is that it is to ensure sufficient expertise on the Supreme Court to deal with questions involving Quebec civil law.

Justice committee  The Supreme Court is charged with answering questions of national interest. The Supreme Court, in fact, has taken steps to assure the public that it is considering the issue impartially. I don't envy those judges and the task that is before them, but I have confidence that they w

Justice committee  It is difficult to divorce law from politics in many cases. I think the Supreme Court of Canada does an admirable job in treating legal issues as such. I regret the current state of affairs, given that the government expressed awareness of this in the summer, that there was a po

Justice committee  Yes.