October 13, 1990 Castlegar News 7 t366-990 avn isi : aah 0 ee LAW I; tial tit tat Court an eclectic collection of talent BATIVYNOMWOH | “WHOS ¢ “Sunidid ¥ SY AEE 1T ALIWIY a t9Zt “D'@ ‘20604805 *eAy DIquinjo> itll fit Fy fae “ erty ine eu0s0) ."9POY dO). UO gege::8 sl af “ty i tt ‘peynwiog “91904 Oy) 10 PAM 1110 401208 Yay JOH18A011U02 ey) J0 epoNde Pop oy) seysiui) puc umop wi oy 21d “AUeTDW YOY) UYERY ydjOy Led» Lt] eerie T cee _~ {J Tatoweey veers wr TET ASN aan He we Eqié eee iE] aca tae i if an ‘SL B0 ‘taps oa re laa ps Sy any Our, Ouig. SORE “WURIOd Hey bet 7 if pe a i AL SOCE-99E eulYG ‘hopuow vs Judges gain significant power, influence in post-charter Canada Editor's note: The Supreme Court of Canada has impact. Here’s 2 look at the Supreme Court and its nine justices. By JIM COYLE The Canadian Press Piety, not to mention perseverance, must have been a trait of a named James In 1872, he tussled with church trustees over his right to a favorite pew. The spat culminated five years later in the Supreme Court of Canada, where the aggrieved wor- shipper’s appeal was upheld in a 4-2 decision. In all, this foofaraw accounted for 63 pages of the court’s report that year. The Supreme Court has come a long way since it set- tled such trifling matters. Today, its nine members decide issues with The rise of these justices through the legal ranks to a position on Canada’s top court did not bring great wealth. At $171,600 annually for the chief justice and $158,900 for the others, most make far less than they could in private practice. It also does not mean an easy life — hours are long, Pressure high, stress-related illness and early retirement common from a court that will cost about $14 million this year to run. Nor does the position tend to bring the celebrity Status enjoyed even by third-rate hockey players. On a recent midweek morning, Sopinka surveyed the newspaper rack in a truck stop in Ottawa across the street from the Indian High Commission, took his purchase to the cash register and handed over a few coins, “Thanks, pal,’’ grunted the clerk, who in another place would have been addressing the man before him a little more decorously. ‘Still, in post-charter Canada, Supreme Court judges have significant mew power and influence and apparently to speak publicly on issues of the significant social and political i abortion, Sunday shopping, language battles, police powers, freedom of expression, mandatory retirement. And the court, under newly named Chief Justice An- tonio Lamer, is likely to remain as is for most of this decade — its members are relatively young — as Canada continues the process of defining life after the Charter of Rights. Behind the requisite decorum of ermine-trimmed scarlet robes and walnut-panelled chambers in an im- Posing courthouse overlooking the Ottawa River, the nine judges are an eclectic collection of talents, tastes and backgrounds. Lamer’s bench includes, in order of seniority, Bertha Wilson, Gerard LaForest, Claire L" ‘Heureux-Dube, John Sopinka, Peter Cory, Charles Gonthier, Beverley McLachlin and William Stevenson. Three from Quebec, three from Ontario, one from Atlantic Canada and two from the West. Barring death or early retirement before the man- datory age of 75, the court will not change until 1998 when Wilson retir Their biographical sketches read like a tour of small- town Canada — with birthplaces like Grand Falls, N.B., Broderick, Sask., and Pincher Creek, Alta. Among them are a Rhodes Scholar — LaForest — day. Frequently, they make headlines, whether it’s Wilson criticizing sexism in the law or Sopinka telling women the charter is no panacea for social inequality. ““We've ‘seen a shift in the relationship between judges and the public,’”’ says Donna Greschner, a law at the l i Sask: \ “*Whiat the charter’s done, of course, is to make them a very significant part of government in this country. “They have, I k, the responsibility to explain what it is they do, how it is they think. Not to be removed in dusty offices in an old building in Ottawa bat to be out and about with the public.”” It’s all part of the continued maturing of the 115- year-old Supreme Court that has only came of age in the last 45 years. Early judicial worthies — stern, mutton-chopped men who i over less-th: matters such as Johnston’s pew — worked from makeshift quar- ters on a court that historians say was respected neither by the bar nor the government. Until recent decades, there was frequent complaints that the best legal talent was passed over in favor of ap- pointees with the correct religion, ethnic background or Political affiliation. own docket in dealing with civil and criminal matters, cone 's civil code and the common law of other Provin- The court got its first woman judge only eight historian at the University of Toronto. Mulroney has named seven of the nine justices — with his choices to date widely praised as deserving and untainted by either ideology or political connection. With an unprecedented turnover that has seen six judges named since 1987, debate continues over the court’s philosophic tilt. Some critics say it is divided between a liberal wing championed by Lamer and Wilson — Pierre Trudeau's last appointees — and a conservative side led by LaForest and L’Heureux-Dube — Mulroney’s first two. Others disagree. “It’s a fairly closely divided court now on a lot of issues, but there aren’t really a lot of either extreme liberals or extreme conseratives,”” says Peter Russell, a historian at the University of Toronto. Among the public, there’s probably only marginal knowledge about who the judges are and how they got there, The choice of a Supreme Court judge in the United States is prolonged front-page news; the filling of a vacancy on Canada’s top court is a one- or two-day won- der, It may be time, say some, to consider a new appoin- tment process, even if it’s less rigorous than an American model which sees politicians and lobby groups pry into the personal lives as well as professional credentials of candidates. But Gi of the Uni ity of disagrees, saying the Canadian system minimizes the chance that selection will become a popularity contest. For Lamer, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who became 16th chief justice in June, challenges abound as the court's passage continues into the mysterious world of Charterland. The lavishly moustached 57-year-old Lamer has said his day-to-day task is rather like the manager of a dance troupe — he arranges the engagements, he doesn’t tell the dancers how to dance. Editor’s note: The Supreme Court of Canada may seem remote to most Canadians, but the decisions of its nine judges can have wide effects. Here’s how the judges work. By JIM COYLE The Canadian Press To some historians, the building that houses the Supreme Court of Canada has an unusual effect: it has contributed to the notion of the institution as aloof and forbidding. Montreal architect Ernest Cormier designed the dominating structure. It’s near Parliament Hill perched on a bluff overlooking the Ottawa River. Marble, granite and rich black walnut were the building materials; size, power and stature the themes. The result has not, however, been universally praised. “It seems unfortunate,’’ wrote Frederick Vaughan and James Snell, the University of Guelph Professors who prepared a history of the court, ‘‘that in order to underline the court's new role and Prestige it was necessary to be so overpowering, so Proceedings of court seldom draw crowds To help in the task, each judge has three law clerks, recent law school graduates who serve for a year as research assistants, Each also has a private secretary and a messenger. Lamer’s predecessor as chief justice, Brian Dickson, was largely credited with administrative improvements that have cleaned up the backlog of cases and shortened the time between the hearing of an appeal and judgment. In 1988-89, the court issued 130 judgments, 17 more than the year before and 49 more than two years ago. Among the legal profession, debate about the function of the Supreme Court is ongoing as it wrestled with its new role and the relationship between law and politics., As well, there are regular proposals for entrenchment of the court in the Constitution — recognition that died with the Meech Lake accord — for an increase in the number of ji justices and for power to sit from time to time outside Ottawa. Two recent studies analysing the first 100 charter JON’ ee JDIANIS B SIT S033N OWL ¥ Shion ONLLV3H'® OWISWiTId JONVUNSNI 30H09 12 "120 ‘Aopuns 04 yBnoay) ¢1 420 geztirtones eececes and a former professional football player — Sopinka. It wasn’t until = that the court poss into its intimidating, so removed.” — ; cases have plotted the judges along an ideological jae RF or There’s a British Columbian with the glamorous cut of a _ present. i hom Newly named Chief Justice Antonio Lamer was spectrum. rg aan fashion model — McLachlin. And there's a 64-year-old greystone at the foot of Parliament Hill which had even blunter in a chat with an author some years ago. Peter Russell of the University of Toronto and reals: ae pL iL a] a former RCAF pilot and squash aficionado who regularly Previously served as a stable and carriage shop. “The living mausoleum — that s what I called it Ted Morton of the University of Calgary, who Ue oy te] ge thrashes competitors half his age — Cory. It wasn’t until 1949 that appeals could not be made when I first came here,’’ Lamer said. “The phone Published one of the studies, concluded the court has apt There's a brilliant Scottish immigrant who made beyond the Supreme Court to the judicial committee of never rings and you can’t hear any voices. divided into identifiable voting blocks, with wide $ Ps good in her chosen land and chosen profession — Wilson. _ the Privy Council in Britain. HY papes of the Supreme Court are not discrepancies among judges’ support for the charter. é And, heading the court, there’s Lamer, a graduate of And it wasn’t until 1975, with elimination of an televis&0 and seldom draw crowds. Lamer and Bertha Wilson — the last two Montreat*s mean streets: automatic right to appeal, that the court was able to set its Only twice in the 1980s — once over patriation of appointees of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau — the C and again during an abortion case — accept charter arguments nearly half the time, Morton h can veteran court reporters recall public galleries full and Russell found. On the other hand, junior, or F res for longer than it took the guided tours of high school puisne, justices Gerald LaForest and Claire {he students to drop in. L’Heureux-Dube backed charter litigants in about 20 = 408014805 ‘ery O1qUINIO O01 © WON OH Ut 1904,.) aoe ( aN NOLLV01 s1evauaaaud UVOITSVD HINOS And the judging process, the heart of the matter, per cent of cases. DO N T BE oo | remains inscrutable. With track records in between, or with too few After hearing arguments from their long, elevated cases on which to base reliable generalizations, are DISAPPO | NTED bench, the justices retire to consider a case. relative newcomers John Sopinka, Peter Cory, Charles The issues are briefly discussed, the most junior - Gonthier, Beverley McLachlin and William Stevenson. MEIP-YOU DONT RIGHT! nok your expert help now for justice speaking first. A judge may volunteer to write Andrew Heard, a court watcher from Dalhousie your winter renovation project. Nei iia sll tebpisiar in: ther ches the chief may designate the writer. A draft is usually its conclusions to that of Russell and Morton. CALL Wed ‘section every incus. Whattey circulated and a decision made on whether separate “The court has been politicized,” he says. you just take little sips of classifieds concurring judgments or dissenting opinions are “People are more willing to take political issues to Ci arpen ry or down it all in one big gulp, you'll court.” find classifieds hit the spot. : : the draft judgment or, if there is no obvious author, University in Halifax, has produced a study similar in 365-7718 Call 365-2212 = n z PLEASE NOTE: Copy names taken once per month only. NS a @ Deadline is the last W. each h, for the following month. PRIZE FOR SOME LUCKY SHOPPER A - Fantastic holiday package at the beautifu/ Bayshore Inn in Waterton Lakes, located in Waterton CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH | ROBSON COMMUNITY CHURCH OF GOD Lakes National Park. 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