JUSTICE MINISTER INVITES PUBLIC INPUT CONCERNING SUPREME COURT OF CANADA VACANCY

OTTAWA, August 30, 2005 – Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Irwin Cotler, today invited public input to help fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the Honourable Mr. Justice John C. Major from the Supreme Court of Canada, which will be effective December 25, 2005. To solicit public input, notices are being placed starting this week in national and regional newspapers, inviting the public to make submissions concerning potential candidates.

"For the first time ever, submissions from the public will formally be part of the Supreme Court of Canada appointments process," said Minister Cotler. "This initiative is an important component of a comprehensive reform that seeks to ensure greater transparency, respects the government's constitutional authority in relation to these appointments and provides for an enhanced and significant degree of Parliamentary and provincial involvement and input."

As part of the revised appointments process announced earlier this month, Minister Cotler is inviting written representations, in either official language and from any person or group, to propose candidates for appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Minister will also consult with Provincial and Territorial Attorneys General, Chief Justices and leading members of the legal community before providing a list of five to eight proposed candidates to an advisory committee. This committee will assess the candidates and generate a short list of three persons from which the successful candidate will be chosen.

In view of the long-standing practice of identifying candidates from the region where the vacancy originated, only candidates from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut will be considered.

Submissions are to be sent by September 20, 2005 to:

Judicial Affairs Advisor
Office of the Minister of Justice
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0H8

E-mail: scc-csc-nominations@justice.gc.ca
Fax: (613) 943-0139 or 1-866-512-6956

Further information on candidate eligibility criteria and the new appointments process is available at: http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/news/nr/2005/doc_31586.html

An online version of the Proposal to Reform the Supreme Court of Canada is available at: http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/scc/index.html.

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Ref.:

Denise Rudnicki
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Justice
(613) 992-4621

Media Relations Office
Department of Justice Canada
(613) 957-4207