Chief Justice of Canada Information & Chief Justice of Canada Links at HealthHaven.com

The Supreme Court of Canada consists of the Chief Justice of Canada (French: Juge en chef du Canada) and eight Puisne Justices, all appointed by the Governor-in-Council (Governor General of Canada on the advice of his or her Cabinet). All nine are chosen from either sitting judges or barristers who have at least ten years' standing at the Bar of a province or territory. The Chief Justice is sworn as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada prior to taking the oath of office as Chief Justice.

[edit] 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 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 the federal Minister of Justice or a provincial Attorney General, into the conduct of any federally appointed judge.

[edit] Governor General

The Letters Patent of 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 the Administrator of Canada and exercise all the powers and duties of the Governor General. This has happened twice in the past, with Chief Justices Robert Taschereau and Sir Lyman Poore Duff acting as Governor General for brief periods following the death of a sitting Governor General. In 2005, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin was Administrator of Canada when then-Governor General, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, was hospitalized when she had a pacemaker installed.

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. The Chief Justice of Canada is officially designated as the Deputy Governor General of Canada.

[edit] Other duties

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 if that individual appealed their conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice could be put in a conflict of interest.

Under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, each province has a three-person commission responsible for the 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.^[1]

[edit] Current Chief

The current Chief Justice is The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, PC, the first woman to hold this position. She was appointed in 2000 and was previously a Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Chief Justice of the British Columbia Supreme Court, and a Justice on the British Columbia Court of Appeal. A graduate of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law, she has also practised law with various firms and taught law at the University of British Columbia. She was born in Pincher Creek, Alberta, in 1943.

[edit] List of Chief Justices

	Name	Province	Term	Elevated by
1	Sir William Buell Richards	Ontario	September 30, 1875 – January 10, 1879^[2]	N/A
2	Sir William Johnstone Ritchie	New Brunswick	January 11, 1879 – September 25, 1892	Macdonald
3	Sir Samuel Henry Strong	Ontario	December 13, 1892 – November 18, 1902	Thompson
4	Sir Henri Elzéar Taschereau	Quebec	November 21, 1902 – May 2, 1906	Laurier
5	Sir Charles Fitzpatrick	Quebec	June 4, 1906 – November 21, 1918^[2]	Laurier
6	Sir Louis Henry Davies	Prince Edward Island	November 23, 1918 – May 1, 1924	Borden
7	The Right Honourable Francis Alexander Anglin	Ontario	September 16, 1924 – February 28, 1933	King
8	Sir Lyman Poore Duff	British Columbia	March 17, 1933 –January 2, 1944^[3]	Bennett
9	The Right Honourable Thibaudeau Rinfret	Quebec	January 8, 1944 – June 22, 1954	King
10	The Right Honourable Patrick Kerwin	Ontario	July 1, 1954 – February 2, 1963	St. Laurent
11	The Right Honourable Robert Taschereau	Quebec	April 22, 1963 – September 1, 1967^[3]	Pearson
12	The Right Honourable John Robert Cartwright	Ontario	September 1, 1967 – March 23, 1970	Pearson
13	The Right Honourable Gérald Fauteux	Quebec	March 23, 1970 – December 23, 1973	Trudeau
14	The Right Honourable Bora Laskin	Ontario	December 27, 1973 – March 26, 1984	Trudeau
15	The Right Honourable Brian Dickson	Manitoba	April 18, 1984 – June 30, 1990	Trudeau
16	The Right Honourable Antonio Lamer	Quebec	July 1, 1990 – January 6, 2000	Mulroney
17	The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin	British Columbia	January 7, 2000 – present	Chrétien

[edit] Notes

^ "Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act". http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/E-3/index.html. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
^ ^a ^b Richards and Fitzpatrick never served as puisne justices, but were appointed directly to the position of Chief Justice. All other Chief Justices served as puisne justices before acceding to Chief Justice, usually (but not always) on the basis of seniority.
^ ^a ^b In cases where a Governor General dies in office or leaves the position before a replacement can be named, Canadian tradition is that the Chief Justice assumes the viceregal duties until a new Governor General is appointed. Duff and R. Taschereau are the two Chief Justices who have served as Acting Governors General under this convention.

[edit] External links

Government biography of the Chief Justice

[0] "Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act". http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/E-3/index.html. Retrieved 2009-09-25.

[richards_fitzpatrick-1] Richards and Fitzpatrick never served as puisne justices, but were appointed directly to the position of Chief Justice. All other Chief Justices served as puisne justices before acceding to Chief Justice, usually (but not always) on the basis of seniority.

[viceregal-2] In cases where a Governor General dies in office or leaves the position before a replacement can be named, Canadian tradition is that the Chief Justice assumes the viceregal duties until a new Governor General is appointed. Duff and R. Taschereau are the two Chief Justices who have served as Acting Governors General under this convention.

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