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news
Bench material
CITLALLY MACIEL
News Editor
On September 23, 2013, an email was sent
to the Osgoode community reporting that
its Assistant Dean Stribopoulos had been
appointed a Justice of the Ontario Court of
Justice in Brampton. Justice Stribopoulos will
join a number of other Osgoode alumni who
have been appointed a magistrate position.
Currently, one member of the Supreme Court
of Canada is an Osgoode graduate, Justice
Andromache Karakatsanis. About five members of the Court of Appeal of Ontario are
Osgoode alumni. These include Associate
Chief Justice Alexandra Hoy, Justice Michael
Tulloch, and Justice Harry S. Laforme. The
search for Osgoode alumni among the different courts would surely result in many more
of individuals. However, the list above is a
good indicator that Osgoode breeds individuals who are “bench” material.
One observation is that a number of these
individuals are trailblazers. For instance, Justice Tulloch is the first Black judge appointed
to the Court; Justice Laforme is the first
Aboriginal person appointed to any appellate
court judge in Canadian history; and of course,
Justice Karakatsanis is the first Greek-Canadian judge appointed to the Supreme Court
of Canada. Another, curious observation is
that a great number of these Osgoode magistrates were appointed by a member of the Liberal Party. What this peculiar fact says about
Osgoode, Canadian politics, and the intersection of those two, I will leave it up to you to
conclude.
Certainly, Canadian politics and Osgoode are
not intersecting much these days. At least not
when it comes to endorse Harper’s latest nominee to the Supreme Court of Canada, Justice
Marc Nadon. This is not to say that a heated
feud has aris en between the Osgoode community and Harper. Rather, the decision has been
politely questioned. Professor Jamie Cameron,
for instance, told The Globe and Mail that
choosing a candidate whose expertise is admiralty law was “an odd choice, because it’s not a
very strong match with the court’s core jurisdiction in public law, the Charter and criminal
law.”
“The problem is that the country moves on
ideologically and demographically leaving the
Supreme Court behind. The face of Canada
changes, but the court doesn’t keep pace.
Isn’t it about time, for example, that someone
from a visible minority and someone from the
gay and lesbian community sat as a Supreme
Court justice? It remains a scandal that an
aboriginal has yet to be appointed. The usual
counter-argument to such a suggestion is “all
that matters is legal ability,” but that retort is
specious and simplistic…”
In fact, Osgoode is not alone in this respect.
There are others who have also disfavoured
this appointment. The objections stem not
only from the fact that Justice Nadon’s background is incompatible with the background
characteristic of the other members of the
Supreme Court. The objections are also based
on the fact that it is a male who is being
appointed. In a recent interview with Peter
Mansbridge, Chief Justice McLachlin was
asked about Justice Nadon’s appointment.
Chief Justice McLachlin acknowledged that
the act of appointing Justices to the Supreme
Court of Canada is the Constitutional right of
a prime minister. Nonetheless, Chief Justice
McLachlin stated that ‘’the court should be
representative of society,’’ and that she is “all
in favour of gender parity.” In the opinion of
Chief Justice McLachlin, having female Justices serving Canada’s highest Court adds to
its credibility.
On Wednesday, Justice Nadon told a special parliamentary committee that Canadian
courts are “not another Parliament,” and that
it is not up to judges to say whether a law
is good or whether it ought to be changed.
Although he recognizes that the Constitution
sometimes gives judges the power to change
laws, it will be interesting to see how open he
will be to using this power. Critics point to his
dissent in the Federal Court’s decision regarding the Omar Khadr case. A dissent that came
to be at odds with that of the Supreme Court
of Canada in terms of the manner in which
the government treated Omar Khadr. The
Globe and Mail cites examples of what it calls
Justice Nadon’s “restrained” approach, such as
the 2003 case where Justice Nadon overruled
a decision that granted status Aboriginals
tax exemptions off-reserve; and his decision
against granting full maternity benefits to an
adoptive mother.
Others are worried that the Supreme Court
has already too many Harper-appointed Justices and the political influence this may have
in the future decisions of the Court. Others
point to the fact that the Court is not racially
diverse. In an article published by Lawyer
Magazine, Philip Slayton writes:
My two cents: The role of the Court is greater
than what Justice Nadon’s deems it to be.
Regardless of his experience or “legal ability,” I will side with Chief Justice McLachlin.
Nothing personal. As I always say, time will
tell. In the meantime, congratulations to Justice Stribopoulos for this great achievement.
L&L update
» continued from last page
over into Round two, which will be on Wednesday October 16th in the JCR. With 11 teams
eliminated, only 10 teams remain.
Other people and teams are welcome to come
play the next round; they’re just out of the running for the top spot.
Clubs Budgets Approved
September was a busy month for budgets.
Thank you to all clubs for having submitted
their proposals. Legal and Lit approved funds
on the basis of those proposals, with the help
and guidance of our dynamic and super-welltuesday - october 15 - 2013
organized VPX, Allison Williams.
Club Collaboration
We have created a central online calendar that
clubs can use to collaboratively find dates to
organize events that don’t conflict with each
other. This tools will go a long way to helping
clubs organize exciting initiatives that will benefit all of Osgoode students, as well as to facilitate member-focused events.
Dean’s Formal Planning Underway
Our 3L Rep, Weston Powell, has been busy
phoning, meeting and emailing to organize one
of Osgoode’s biggest annual events, the Dean’s
Formal. Stay tuned, we don’t want to spoil the
surprise!
Financial Aid
L&L is also working with Student Financial
Services to increase targeted funding to students who have demonstrated financial need. If
you have any questions, please contact Weston
at [email protected].
Dylan McGuinty is the President of the Legal and
Literary Society.
the obiter dicta