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Page 6 January 16, 2017 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com ©2017 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reli- ance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. 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Karen Lorimer Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Brown Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabrielle Giroday Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alex Robinson Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Cancilla CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah Craven Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Barone Production Co-ordinator . . . . . . . . .Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist . . . Derek Welford u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday Vacancies, again A proactive cabinet shuff le may be a smart move, but some burrs re- main in the side of the federal government. The Canadian Bar As- sociation kicked off 2017 by calling on Federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould to accelerate the hiring of judges, classifying the issue as "an acute access to justice problem." "The government has promised to move as quickly as possible to fill existing vacancies," said a CBA news release. "However, several provinces have identified the need for new judicial positions that have yet to be approved by Ottawa." As of early 2017, there were 57 vacancies for federally appointed judges across Canada. "It makes it very difficult to get to court, either criminally or civ- illy," says René Basque, the CBA's president. According to a federal website, there are seven vacancies at Al- berta's Court of Queen's Bench and eight at the Supreme Court of British Columbia. There are also nine vacancies at the Ontario Su- perior Court of Justice and six at the Superior Court of Québec. A spokeswoman for Wilson-Raybould said judicial advisory com- mittees "in the critical jurisdictions will be constituted in very short order." Change is apparently coming — but first, there is process. "Since Oct. 20, 2016, the commissioner has received hundreds of judicial applications," she said. The return of the Court Challenges Program BY RICHARD CLEROUX I t appears we are going to get our Court Challenges Program back again. That is good news for people who speak only one of our two official lan- guages and for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, as well as other Canadians interested in advocating for specific rights. The program goes back to 1978. That's when then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau set up the program, and provided funding for people going to court to fight the gov- ernment for their language rights. The program provided funding for le- gal cases of national significance and rec- ognized how they related to important government and legislative and policy areas. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney expanded the program in 1985 to include other minority rights, not just language rights, after the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms became law. Included in the expanded program was funding for those who wished to fight for the rights of disadvantaged peo- ple, indigenous women, lesbian groups and persons with disabilities, as well as those who wanted to stop the deporta- tion of people to countries where there was a risk of torture. So, it was a fight for a lot more than just minority language ed- ucation rights as guaranteed in the Constitution. The problem was that it was only a government pro- gram, not something en- shrined in law. That meant politicians could toss it out without even a vote in Parlia- ment. Out went the program when along came Stephen Harper as prime minister. Maybe human rights were moving too fast for him. Or maybe he just wanted to save money. The program was costing $2.8 million a year. But after Justin Trudeau was elected PM, the program was back on the table. Only this time, the federal Liberals said it would be a real law, enshrined and pro- tected by the Charter of Rights and Free- doms, so no government could throw it out again on a whim. In fact, Trudeau promised this in his 2015 election campaign. And he put the promise in mandate letters he sent to Minister of Justice and Attorney Gener- al of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould and Minister of Canadian Heritage Méla- nie Joly, whose ministry has been funding language issues that had survived out of the previous Court Challenges Program. Liberal MP Anthony Housefather was appointed the justice commit- tee chair. The whole thing was sent to the House of Commons Standing Committee of Justice and Human Rights. It began meetings last February to work out how far the law should go in protecting human rights. Guess what? The three major parties did a lot of hard work and are basically in agreement over content in the new law. So, when they really want to, politi- cal parties can work for the good of us all without fighting each other. Housefather has been a good chair- man. The talk on the Hill is that he is so sharp on legal issues that he could just as easily have made a good justice minister. He knows how to run a proper com- mittee and makes no enemies of fellow members of Parliament. Housefather even has nice things to say about his Conservative and New Democrat MPs on the committee, in- cluding some who opposed the old Court Challenges Program years ago. The committee has been in wide- spread agreement on most issues, hear- ing compelling testimony from witness- es of every stripe. MPs from all parties have asked pointed questions and made valid points in law. The NDP was particularly pleased the new program will be enshrined in law and properly funded. NDP MP Murray Rankin says the ever-increasing cost of litigation has always been a significant barrier to potential litigants. That must change. Expanding and clarifying Cana- dian constitutional rights is as important as ever today. Rob Nicholson, the former Conserva- tive justice minister who once said the Court Challenges Program was not re- ally needed because the Charter of Rights and Freedoms covers the same protec- tions under law, has earned the respect and appreciation of the entire commit- tee. Housefather says Nicholson is quite open in his committee presentations. The committee finished its hearings in December. It sent the report off to Wilson-Raybould. The federal Liberal government has said nothing about tim- ing, but the buzz is that it may try to rush a new enshrined law through before the summer adjournment. Stay tuned. LT uRichard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parlia- ment Hill. His email address is richardcleroux34@gmail.com. "All judicial applicants who had applied prior to the implementation of the new process have had to reapply. The applications will be considered by the Judicial Advisory Committees once constituted." The CBA, and its members, will no doubt be waiting for news. LT The Hill Richard Cleroux

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