Chief Justice of Canada


The Chief Justice of Canada is the presiding judge of the nine-member Supreme Court of Canada, the highest judicial body in Canada. As such, the chief justice is the highest-ranking judge of the Canadian court system. The Supreme Court Act gives the Governor General of Canada the power to appoint the Chief Justice, on the advice of the federal Cabinet. The Chief Justice serves until they resign, turn 75 years old, die, or are removed from office for cause. By tradition, a new chief justice is chosen from among the Court's incumbent puisne justices.
The chief justice has significant influence in the procedural rules of the Court, presides when oral arguments are held, and leads the discussion of cases among the justices. He or she is also Deputy Governor General, Ex-officio chairman of the Canadian Judicial Council, and heads the committee that selects recipients of the Order of Canada. Additionally, a chief justice also assumes viceregal duties upon the death or incapacitation of the Governor-General.
Since the Supreme Court was established in 1875, 18 people have served as chief justice. The Court's first chief justice was William Buell Richards; currently, it is Richard Wagner. Beverley McLachlin is the longest serving Canadian chief justice, and was the first woman to hold the position.

Appointment

The Chief Justice is appointed by the Governor General-in-Council under the federal Supreme Court Act on the advice of the Prime Minister. The appointment is subject to the Supreme Court Act, which governs the administration and appointment of judges of the court. By this component of the Constitution of Canada, Judges appointed to the court must be "a judge of a superior court of a province or a barrister or advocate of at least ten years standing at the bar of a province."
Tradition dictates that the chief justice be appointed from among the Court's puisne judges; in the history of the Court, only two were not: William Buell Richards, and Charles Fitzpatrick. It is also customary that a new chief justice be chosen alternately from among: the three justices who by law must be from Quebec, and the other six justices from the rest of Canada. Since 1933, this tradition has only been broken once, when Brian Dickson of Manitoba was named to succeed Bora Laskin of Ontario in 1984.

Duties

The Chief Justice's central duty is to preside at hearings before the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice presides from the centre chair. If the Chief Justice is absent, the senior puisne judge presides.

Judicial Council

The Chief Justice chairs the Canadian Judicial Council, which is composed of all chief justices and associate chief justices of superior courts in Canada. This body, established in 1971 by the Judges Act, organizes seminars for federally appointed judges, coordinates the discussion of issues of concern to the judiciary, and conducts inquiries, either on public complaint or at the request of the federal Minister of Justice or a provincial attorney general, into the conduct of any federally appointed judge.

Other duties

The Chief Justice is sworn as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada prior to taking the judicial oath of office. He or she also sits on the advisory council of Canada's highest civilian order, the Order of Canada. In practice however, the Chief Justice abstains from voting on a candidate's removal from the order, presumably because this process has so far only applied to individuals convicted in a lower court of a criminal offence, and could create a conflict of interest for the Chief Justice if that individual appealed their conviction to the Supreme Court.
Under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, each province has a three-person commission responsible for modifying that province's federal ridings. The chair of each such commission is appointed by the chief justice of that province; if no appointment is made by the provincial chief justice, the responsibility falls to the Chief Justice of Canada.

Assistant viceroy

The Letters Patent of 1947 respecting the Office of Governor General provide that, should the Governor General die, become incapacitated, or be absent from the country for a period of more than one month, the Chief Justice or, if that office is vacant, the Senior Puisne Justice, of the Supreme Court would become the Administrator of Canada and exercise all the powers and duties of the Governor General. This has happened on three occasions: Chief Justices Lyman Duff and Robert Taschereau each did so, in 1940 and 1967 respectively, following the death of the incumbent Governor General, as did Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin when the Governor General underwent surgery in 2005.
The Chief Justice and the other Justices of the Court serve as deputies of the Governor General for the purpose of giving Royal Assent to bills passed by parliament, signing official documents or receiving credentials of newly appointed high commissioners and ambassadors.

Current chief justice

The current Chief Justice is Richard Wagner, who took office on December 18, 2017, replacing Beverley McLachlin, the first woman to hold this position. Born in Montreal on April 2, 1957, he had been a puisne Supreme Court justice for at the time of his elevation to chief justice. He previously sat on the Quebec Court of Appeal.

List of chief justices

Since the Supreme Court was established in 1875, the following 18 persons have served as Chief Justice:
This graphical timeline depicts the length of each justice's tenure as chief justice: