Trudeau nominated a woman for Canada’s Supreme Court. Some progressives are disappointed.
ANALYSIS | Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin will retire Dec. 15
Adapted from a story by Alan Freeman for The Washington Post.
On Dec. 15, Beverley McLachlin, the chief justice of Canada’s Supreme Court, will retire. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to nominate a replacement. There was an expectation that the nominee would be a woman.
Trudeau delivered by nominating Sheilah Martin, an Alberta appeals court judge and former law school dean. Martin is known as an outspoken advocate for women’s and indigenous rights.
The nine-member Supreme Court will keep its balance of the sexes once Martin replaces McLachlin, with five male and four female justices.
“The public expects and deserves to see a bench that looks a little more like Canada,” said Rosemary Cairns Way, law professor at University of Ottawa. “It’s not hard to find meritorious women to appoint to the bench. There are lots of them.”
Why progressives are disappointed in Trudeau
Some progressives were disappointed in Trudeau’s decision. They wanted their prime minister to name the first indigenous judge to the high court, particularly in light of Trudeau’s calls for reconciliation with native people to correct historic abuses.
“Of course, we are disappointed not to have a First Nations justice appointee to the Supreme Court of Canada,” said Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, the leading indigenous group in the country.
Kim Campbell, the former Canadian prime minister who chaired the advisory committee that screened candidates for the Supreme Court position, said she is certain that, one day, there will be an indigenous judge on the court. But Campbell conceded that the pool of qualified candidates was still “small.”
Trudeau’s record on gender equality
Trudeau is a self-proclaimed feminist. He has redirected Canada’s international assistance program to emphasize gender equality and empowerment for women and girls. A focus on gender and racial diversity has continued in appointments to Canadian government agencies and to the courts for which his government has responsibility, including federal courts and senior courts in the provinces.
The Trudeau government has appointed 74 new judges over the past year. Half were women.
It’s a stark contrast with the United States, where a recent analysis published by the Associated Press found 81 percent of 58 appointees to U.S. federal courts by the Trump administration were male.
