House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights – Nomination of the Honourable Mahmud Jamal to the Supreme Court of Canada

Speech on the Nomination of the Honourable Mahmud Jamal to the Supreme Court of Canada

Remarks of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Speech – 10 minutes

June 2021

Introduction

Honorable colleagues –

To begin, I would like to acknowledge that I am speaking to you from the traditional territory of the Algonquin People.

I would also like to thank the Chair and members of the Committee for convening this special session. As always, your contribution to helping shape the character of one of Canada’s most important and enduring institutions is deeply valued.

The Supreme Court of Canada is a place close to my heart. It is the place where, years ago, I began my own legal career as a law clerk to a cherished mentor and friend, the late Peter Cory. His example serves to remind me that our great public institutions depend on the dedication and integrity of those who occupy them. It is my privilege today to speak in support of the Honourable Mahmud Jamal, a nominee who I am confident will honour the highest ideals of the Supreme Court, and help to guide the evolution of Canada’s laws with wisdom, fairness, and a deep understanding of the society he serves.

I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Justice Jamal, and I look forward to his appearance before parliamentarians in the near future.

I would also be remiss not to take this opportunity to acknowledge the lifetime of contribution and service to Canada, and to the rule of law, of Justice Jamal’s predecessor, the Honourable Rosalie Silberman Abella. Justice Abella is a trailblazer and a jurist of remarkable intellect and character, and she has left an indelible mark on Canada’s legal landscape. She will be deeply missed on our highest court, but I have no doubt that she will continue to make important contributions to our public life.

Role of the IAB

Justice Jamal is the fourth person to be nominated to the Supreme Court by Prime Minister Trudeau under a modernized judicial selection process implemented by the Government in 2016. That approach stresses values of merit, social reflectiveness, and transparency. It requires that all candidates for appointment to our highest court complete a rigorous application, using a publicly accessible questionnaire. It requires that they speak not just to qualities of legal and professional excellence, but to the ways in which their personal life experiences have shaped their views and understandings of Canadian society, in all its variety and diversity. And it requires that they be measured against consistent, transparent merit-based criteria – in the first instance by an Independent Advisory Board of eminent persons, who reflect the best of their communities from across Canada.

The Independent Advisory Board for Supreme Court of Canada Appointments, or IAB, is the heart of the selection process. I am pleased to be joined today by its Chair, the Right Honourable Kim Campbell, who has contributed so much to the success of the Supreme Court appointment process through her stewardship of four nominations, including today. Ms Campbell never fails to inform and support this Committee with characteristic intelligence and candour, and we owe her a deep debt of gratitude. I am looking very forward to hearing her remarks today.

I am also deeply grateful to the individuals who serve with Ms Campbell as members of the IAB. These members are nominated not just by the Government, but by organizations committed to the rule of law and to serving Canadians; they include the Canadian Bar Association, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the Canadian Judicial Council, and the Council of Canadian Law Deans. The thoughtful nominees of these organizations, and the dedicated service of these individuals on the IAB, ensure that the judicial selection process mirrors a critical aspiration for the Supreme Court itself: that it truly reflect our society, and be a place in which Canadians can see themselves and their life experiences represented.

The Process

The current selection process was launched by Prime Minister Trudeau on February 19, 2021, in order to fill the upcoming vacancy that will be created by the retirement of Justice Abella.

The IAB was tasked under public terms of reference with identifying candidates of the highest calibre who are functionally bilingual and representative of Canada’s diversity. Following the longstanding convention of regional representation on the Court, the present selection process was open to all qualified applicants from Ontario.

Candidates were given six weeks to submit their applications, following which the IAB conducted their review of applications. This included consultation with the Chief Justice of Canada, referees and stakeholders, and meetings with some candidates personally. All of this was conducted in the strictest confidence, as required by the IAB’s terms of reference, and by personal undertakings of confidentiality completed by each IAB member.

At the conclusion of this process, the IAB provided the Prime Minister with a report of shortlisted candidates, all of whom fully satisfied the public merit and functional bilingualism criteria, and proved themselves to be the most outstanding applicants. I then consulted on the shortlist in order to provide my advice to the Prime Minister.

I consulted with Chief Justices, including the Chief Justice of Canada; the Attorney General of Ontario; cabinet colleagues; opposition Justice Critics; members of this Committee and the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs; and with senior members of the Bar. The Prime Minister then made his final selection.

I wish to stress, again, the confidentiality of this process, which is essential to ensuring that exceptional candidates come forward and speak to their life experiences and skills with honesty and candour. Members of Parliament, Senators, and members of the Bar were each required to complete a non-disclosure agreement. And all persons involved in conducting the process – including myself, the Prime Minister, and members of the IAB – understand the importance of confidentiality to providing candidates with the fair treatment that they deserve, and the rigorous scrutiny that an appointment to the Supreme Court demands.

I would like to turn now to invite Ms Campbell to speak to the process from her perspective.

[Remarks of the Right Honourable Kim Campbell].

Comments on the Nominee

Thank you, Ms. Campbell. Your thoughts are always extremely valuable to us as we work to hone the judicial selection process. We are very grateful for the care and attention that you and your colleagues on the IAB have brought to this task.

I can only echo Ms Campbell’s comments about the remarkable calibre of individuals who stepped forward to be considered in this process. The application process is onerous, and all of those candidates who took the time and expended the energy necessary to complete an application deserve our recognition and sincere thanks.

From this exceptional field, Justice Jamal emerged as the individual best qualified to serve on the highest court in our justice system. I am supremely confident that Justice Jamal, based on his lived experiences and demonstrated commitment to the rule of law, will serve Canada and its peoples with the same verve and commitment as his predecessors on the Court.

Justice Jamal makes history as the first person of colour to be appointed to our highest court, and the first person of Bahà í faith. His story is not only one of excellence in the legal profession, in scholarship and voluntary service to his community, but of navigating the role of difference in our society, often leveraging the role of counselor and advocate to bridge the inequalities that too often attach to our differences.

Justice Jamal has served as counsel in some of the most important constitutional cases of the past decades; he is certainly no stranger the Supreme Court. He has repeatedly offered his skill and dedication to under-resourced individuals and organizations on a pro bono basis. He has taught, studied, and published on our laws extensively, demonstrating a vast intellectual range and commitment to advancing Canada’s legal institutions and traditions. He has sought out and relished opportunities in his career to work in both French and English, including as an appellate judge. And he has served Ontario’s Court of Appeal admirably as a fair, thoughtful, and incisive judge.

I take great pride in his nomination, as indeed I hope and believe all Canadians will.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude by reiterating my thanks to Ms Campbell, her colleagues on the IAB, every person consulted, and each candidate who applied in this process. The work of all of these individuals has contributed to the strength of our Supreme Court and the esteem in which it is held by Canadians.

I would also like to thank the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs and his staff for their seamless administration of the application process and support of the IAB. This is no minor task, and the CFJA has again completed it with skill and professionalism.

Finally, I would like to thank you, my colleagues, for the consideration and care that I know you will give to this nomination, on behalf of Canadians. I look forward to answering your questions.