Bilingualism Requirement for Supreme Court Judges Decried as Favouring French
Ottawa’s move to make bilingualism a requirement to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada has sparked criticism from diversity advocates who fear it will exclude qualified candidates who don’t speak both French and English. Some are also concerned that it will limit the talent pool and lead to bias in the judicial system.
In 2016, the federal government called for new Supreme Court justices to be functionally bilingual and, in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s words, “representative of the diversity of our great country.” This February, the government announced it would formally add bilingualism as a legal requirement for appointment to the Supreme Court by amending the Official Languages Act.
Favouring Their Own: The Politicization of Canada’s Courts
Judges who take an originalist approach to the Constitution are a minority in Canada
News Analysis
Allegations by the Conservatives that the Liberals are partial to appointing liberal-minded judges may come as no surprise to observers of Canada’s judicial system and the course it has taken.
But the politicization of the courts is not only limited to the Liberals notwithstanding the alleged extent of the practice levelled against the current government.
Bruce Pardy, a law professor at Queen’s University, tells The Epoch Times that “there is a tendency for governments, not just the Liberals, to favour their own for judicial appointments.”