The prime minister has named Justice Malcolm Rowe to serve on the Supreme Court of Canada, assuring the Atlantic provinces of their traditional representation on the country’s highest court. He will be the first justice to be named from the eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador since it joined confederation in 1949.
There are nine justices on the Supreme Court bench. Quebec is the only province that has a legal guarantee that three of them will come from there. Traditionally, three more justices are named from the big, central province of Ontario, two come from western provinces and one from Atlantic provinces.
Prime minister wanted an indigenous or minority justice
However, Prime Minister Justice Trudeau earlier said that he would not necessarily replace retiring Justice Thomas Cromwell of the eastern province of Nova Scotia with someone from the same region. He rather wanted to name a first indigenous or visible minority justice, and someone who spoke both of Canada’s official languages of English and French.
When it became clear that the new judge might not be from Atlantic Canada, a lawyers’ group launched a court challenge and pressure mounted to retain the custom of naming someone from the eastern provinces, with all Members of Parliament voting for it.
Committee submitted names
Trudeau also changed the process for naming a top court judge. It has generally been the prime minister’s prerogative. Trudeau set up a committee to provide a list of nominees, from which he could choose a candidate. The nominee must then appear before a public hearing of the House of Commons justice committee to answer questions.
In his application, Rowe stated that he was bilingual.
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