Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm very pleased and honoured to be here today. I'm joined by Jacqueline Corado, senior counsel in the secretariat of the Canadian Judicial Council.
From the outset, allow me to say that the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, the Canadian Judicial Council and the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association are pleased that this judicial conduct reform bill is making its way through Parliament and is being studied by your committee. We all look forward to its receiving royal assent.
You will already know that the council and the association have worked with Justice in order to bring this bill to fruition. In our opinion, Bill C-9 will provide for much-needed efficiency in the judicial conduct process and will reinforce public confidence in the regime.
With respect to the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, it was created under the Judges Act and is independent of the Department of Justice, and its mission is to safeguard the independence of the judiciary.
Among other things, we administer the Judges Act on behalf of the Minister of Justice, administer the appointments process for the Supreme Court of Canada as well as for superior courts across the country, publish information relevant to the judiciary such as statistics on judicial expenses and diversity on the bench, and provide other services. We provide services to approximately 1,200 federally appointed judges.
The Judges Act also provides for the office of the commissioner to provide corporate services to the Canadian Judicial Council. Such services include obtaining necessary funding from the Department of Finance and the Treasury Board for the council’s operations, for its needs with respect to investigations into judicial conduct, as well as for the legal costs of judges who are the subject of a complaint.
In accordance with the Judges Act, the commissioner must also provide council with the necessary personnel for its operations and its secretariat. The secretariat includes a small team of about 10 employees, ordinarily led by an executive director. At the current time, in the absence of an executive director, I as commissioner am performing those duties myself.
Ms. Corado's role as senior counsel in the secretariat is focused on the judicial conduct process. She or I will be pleased to provide answers to your questions later.
Mr. Chair, before I turn it over to Ms. Corado, allow me to make a few observations about the Canadian Judicial Council.
The council is chaired by the Chief Justice of Canada and is composed of all chief justices and associate chief justices in the country, that is, those of the courts of appeal and superior trial courts. At present, there are 44 such positions of federally appointed chief justices and associate chief justices.
Under section 60 of the Judges Act, the council’s mandate is to promote efficiency and uniformity, and to improve the quality of judicial service, in superior courts. As you know, the main functions of the council are focused on judicial conduct and judicial education. That being said, the council has several committees working on various topics.
Over the past two years, the council has been active on a variety of fronts, including, for example, ensuring court services during the COVID pandemic through, amongst other things, the action committee on court operations in response to COVID-19, co-chaired by the chief justice and the Minister of Justice. The council has signed MOUs with the government on judicial education and the council's governance, has [Technical difficulty—Editor] self-represented litigants, and has ensured more communications and publications in order to increase the transparency of its work.
One last example of the council's recent work is the new and revised ethical principles for judges that the council adopted and has published on its website. These revised principles are founded in the concepts of integrity, independence, equality, diligence and impartiality. They recognize that ethical considerations evolve and need to keep pace with society's expectations.
Mr. Chair, I feel this may be a good segue to pass it over to Ms. Corado, if you agree.