Chief Justice of Canada

History

On October 8, 1875, General William O'Grady Haly administered the oath of office to Chief Justice William Buell Richards. A month later on November 8, the five puisne justices took their oath of office. In January 1879, Chief Justice William Buell Richards resigned following pressure from his longtime friend, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, likely due to Richards' deteriorating health. On January 11, 1879, William Johnstone Ritchie was appointed chief justice by Macdonald.

On September 25, 1892, Chief Justice William Johnstone Ritchie died after a relapse of bronchitis at the age of 78. Early rumors indicated that Prime Minister John Abbott might appoint Justice Minister John Sparrow David Thompson. The opinion that the chief justice should not default to the longest-serving member of the court was prevalent, and prominent Conservative senator James Robert Gowan, who was a chief party advisor on legal matters, opposed this strongly. Senator Gowan wrote Justice Minister Thompson suggesting Justice Strong be allowed to retire and the appointment be delayed, and indicated he had little faith in Strong's work ethic. However, three weeks after becoming prime minister, Thompson appointed Strong as the court's third chief justice.

In April 1896, Parliament under the Conservative government of Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell amended the Supreme and Exchequer Courts Act to create the title of "Chief Justice of Canada". Prior to the amendment, the title was just "chief justice".

Appointment

The chief justice is appointed by the Governor in Council under the Supreme Court Act on the advice of the prime minister. The appointment is subject to the Supreme Court Act, which governs the administration and appointment of judges of the court. By this component of the Constitution of Canada, Judges appointed to the court must be "a judge of a superior court of a province or a barrister or advocate of at least ten years standing at the bar of a province."

Tradition dictates that the chief justice be appointed from among the court's puisne judges; in the history of the Court, only two were not: William Buell Richards, and Charles Fitzpatrick. It is also customary that a new chief justice be chosen alternately from among: the three justices who by law must be from Quebec (with its civil law system), and the other six justices from the rest of Canada (representing the common law tradition). Since 1933, this tradition has only been broken once, when Brian Dickson of Manitoba was named to succeed Bora Laskin of Ontario in 1984.

Duties

The chief justice's central duty is to preside at hearings before the Supreme Court. The chief justice presides from the centre chair. If the chief justice is absent, the senior puisne judge presides.

Judicial Council

The chief justice chairs the Canadian Judicial Council, which is composed of all chief justices and associate chief justices of superior courts in Canada. This body, established in 1971 by the Judges Act, organizes seminars for federally appointed judges, coordinates the discussion of issues of concern to the judiciary, and conducts inquiries, either on public complaint or at the request of a federal or provincial minister of justice or attorney general, into the conduct of any federally appointed judge.

Other duties

The chief justice is sworn as a member of the Privy Council prior to taking the judicial oath of office. The chief justice also sits on the advisory council of Canada's highest civilian order, the Order of Canada. In practice however, the chief justice abstains from voting on a candidate's removal from the order, presumably because this process has so far only applied to individuals convicted in a lower court of a criminal offence, and could create a conflict of interest for the chief justice if that individual appealed their conviction to the Supreme Court.

Under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, each province has a three-person commission responsible for modifying that province's federal ridings. The chair of each such commission is appointed by the chief justice of that province; if no appointment is made by the provincial chief justice, the responsibility falls to the chief justice of Canada.

Administrator of Canada

The Constitution Act, 1867 provides that there can be an "Administrator for the Time being carrying on the Government of Canada."Act, 1867*, s. 10. The Letters Patent, 1947 respecting the Office of Governor General provide that, should the governor general die, become incapacitated, or be absent from the country for a period of more than one month, the chief justice or, if that office is vacant, the senior puisne justice, of the Supreme Court would become Administrator of Canada and exercise all the powers and duties of the governor general.Letters Patent Constituting the Office of Governor General of Canada, s. 8. This has happened on four occasions: chief justices Lyman Duff and Robert Taschereau each did so, in 1940 and 1967 respectively, following the death of the incumbent governor general, as did Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin when the Governor General underwent surgery in 2005. With the resignation of Julie Payette in January 2021, Richard Wagner served as Administrator until the appointment of Mary Simon as governor general in July of the same year.

The chief justice and the other justices of the court serve as deputies of the governor general for the purpose of giving Royal Assent to bills passed by Parliament, signing official documents or receiving credentials of newly appointed high commissioners and ambassadors.

Current chief justice

The current chief justice is Richard Wagner, who took office on December 18, 2017, succeeding Beverley McLachlin. Born in Montreal on April 2, 1957, Wagner had been a puisne Supreme Court justice for at the time of his elevation to chief justice. He previously sat on the Quebec Court of Appeal.

List of chief justices

Since the Supreme Court was established in 1875, the following 18 persons have served as Chief Justice:

This graphical timeline depicts the length of each justice's tenure as chief justice:

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width:4 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till fontsize:10 barset:ChiefJustices from:1875.67 till:1879.00 color:RED text:"William Buell Richards" from:1879.00 till:1892.67 color:RED text:"William Johnstone Ritchie" from:1892.92 till:1902.83 color:RED text:"Samuel Henry Strong" from:1902.83 till:1906.33 color:RED text:"Henri Elzéar Taschereau" from:1906.41 till:1918.75 color:RED text:"Charles Fitzpatrick" from:1918.75 till:1924.33 color:RED text:"Louis Henry Davies" from:1924.67 till:1933.09 color:RED text:"Francis Alexander Anglin" from:1933.16 till:1944.00 color:RED text:"Lyman Duff" from:1944.00 till:1954.41 color:RED text:"Thibaudeau Rinfret" from:1954.50 till:1963.09 color:RED text:"Patrick Kerwin" from:1963.25 till:1967.67 color:RED text:"Robert Taschereau" from:1967.67 till:1970.16 color:RED text:"John Robert Cartwright" from:1970.16 till:1973.92 color:RED text:"Gérald Fauteux" from:1973.92 till:1984.16 color:RED text:"Bora Laskin" from:1984.28 till:1990.50 color:RED text:"Brian Dickson" from:1990.50 till:2000.02 color:RED text:"Antonio Lamer" from:2000.02 till:2017.94 color:RED text:"Beverley McLachlin" from:2017.94 till:$now color:RED text:"Richard Wagner"

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Notes

References

Primary sources

Works centering on the history of the Supreme Court of Canada

References

1. "Guide for Candidates". Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs.
2. "Supreme Court of Canada".
3. "Supreme Court of Canada – Role of the Court". Supreme Court of Canada.
4. "About the Judges". Supreme Court of Canada.
5. Ashley Burke, [https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/governor-general-payette-step-down-1.5882675 "Payette stepping down as governor general after blistering report on Rideau Hall work environment"]. [[CBC News]], January 21, 2021.
6. Catharine Tunney, [https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mary-simon-installed-as-governor-general-1.6114622 "Mary Simon officially becomes Canada's first Inuk Governor General"]. [[CBC News]], July 26, 2021.
7. "Current and Former Chief Justices". Supreme Court of Canada.
8. Everett, Jason K.. (Summer 2016). "Beverly McLachlin, Canada: Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Canada". International Judicial Academy of the International Law Institute.