Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m J u l y 2 0 1 4 3 Everybody need apply Director/Group Publisher: Karen Lorimer karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com Editor in Chief: Gail J. Cohen gail.cohen@thomsonreuters.com Staff Writer: Arshy Mann arshy.mann@thomsonreuters.com Copy Editor: Mallory Hendry Art Director: Bill Hunter Production Co-ordinator: Catherine Giles catherine.giles@thomsonreuters.com Contributors: Jean Sorensen, donalee Moulton, Geoff Ellwand, Marg. Bruineman, Jennifer Brown, Luis Millán, Peter Small, Jim Middlemiss, Michael McKiernan, Pascal Elie Canadian Lawyer is published 11 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. 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. 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For all circulation inquiries and address changes send a copy of your mailing label or labels along with your request in writing to Canadian Lawyer , One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON. M1T 3V4 Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index I t seems the federal government has pissed lawyers off again, this time over who's applying for spots on the federal bench. "I was just so pissed off," Avvy Yao- Yao Go, a well-known social justice activist and lawyer, wrote in the Toronto Star after Justice Minister Peter MacKay made com- ments at a recent Ontario Bar Association meeting that women and visible minorities aren't applying for judge jobs and that's why they're under-represented on the bench. He reportedly also said a woman's bond with her children might also be the reason few would apply for judicial positions on the federal "circuit courts" where they may be forced to travel away from family (say for a week in another big city or something crazy like that). There are so many things wrong with all of it. Firstly, the day MacKay made these comments at the private OBA meeting, 10 new judicial appointments were made — nine were men. Secondly, his comments about the lack of diversity didn't address why there are so few aboriginal or other visible minorities on the bench. Thirdly, he then during question period a few days later repeated his messaging in a very public forum and again stood by his argument that few women and minorities are applying for positions on the bench so that's why the government isn't appointing them. The feds, of course, don't have any stats on who's applying or how anything happens in the absolutely opaque process of Federal Judicial Affairs Canada. Ontario keeps stats and it says about half of applicants to the bench are women, about 40 per cent of appointees are women. Let's not even talk about what's happened with the Supreme Court of Canada appointments recently. Mostly just think: making up the rules as we go and diversity, what's that? Law societies and bar associations have been calling on the federal gov- ernment to appoint a wider vari- ety of individuals to the bench, but as Rosemary Cairns notes in her recent paper "Deliberate Disregard: Judicial Appointments under the Harper Government": "These calls for change have elicited little substantive political response. In fact, they appear to have been ignored. Recent federal appointees appear to be, in as much as it is possible to discern from publicly available information, almost uniformly white. The appointment of women continues to lag behind the appointment of men. . . ." So here's my challenge: If you're quali- fied (essentially have been practising law in Canada for 10 years) go the judicial affairs web site and apply. If you're bringing any kind of diversity to the game — you're a woman, a visible minority, have a disability, are gay or lesbian, or anything else — be sure to put it on the form. I'd say I'd keep track of it all on a spreadsheet but that's not really plausible. Perhaps the govern- ment might give that a go instead. Either way, the government will be flooded with diverse candidates and Minister MacKay won't have a leg to stand on with his "no one is applying." *** It's also great to be able to share some good news and pat ourselves on the back a little. Last month at the annual Kenneth R. Wilson Awards, the celebration of Canada's business press, Cana- dian Lawyer and Canadian Law- yer 4Students were nominated for five awards for our editorial and artistic work last year. These included "Making Waves," the March 2013 profile of Toronto's integrity com- missioner Janet Leiper, which took the gold award in the best profile of a person category. A big congratulations to former staff writer Michael McKiernan and to all of our staff and contributors who work so hard to provide readers with high quality, Canadian-based legal journalism. by gail j. cohen Editor's dEsk Correction In "Polkosnik abandons boardroom to head Alberta legal Aid" (Canadian lawyer, May 2014) the article states Suzanne Polkosnik rose to a vice president position at EPCOR. In fact her position was associate general counsel and assistant corporate secretary (leading the legal department). In addition, she was not an employee of the Alberta Gaming and liquor Commission but did work with its appeals board while she was in private practice. L e s P r i x K e n n e t h R . W ils on 2 0 1 4 Finaliste 2 0 1 4 K e n n e t h R . W ils on A w a rd s Finalist L e s P r i x K e n n e t h R . W ils on 2 0 1 4 Médaille d'argent L e s P r i x K e n n e t h R . W i ls on 2 0 1 4 Magazine de l'année L e s P r i x K e n n e t h R . W ils on 2 0 1 4 Médaille d'or 2 0 1 4 K e n n e t h R . W ils on A w a rd s Silver Winner 2 0 1 4 K e n n e t h R . W ils on A w a rd s Gold Winner 2 0 1 4 K e n n e t h R . W ils on A w a rd s Magazine of the Year L e s P r i x K en n e t h R . W ils o n 2 0 1 4 Site Web de l'année 2 0 1 4 K e n n e t h R . W ils on A w a rd s Website of the Year L e s P r i x K e n n e t h R . W i ls o n 2 0 1 4 Magazine de l'année Finaliste 2 0 1 4 K en n e t h R . W ils on A w a rd s Magazine of the Year Finalist L ' é lit e du sec t e u r ca n a d i e n d e s pu li ca ti o n s p r o f e ssi onn e ll e s B e st i n C a n a d i a n B u si n e ss P u b lis h i n g B e st i n C a n a d i a n B u si n e ss P u b lis h i n g L ' é lit e du sec t e u r ca n a d i e n d e s pu li ca ti o n s p r o f e ssi onn e ll e s L ' é lite du sec t e u r ca n a d i e n d e s pu li ca ti o n s p r o fe ssi onn e ll e s L ' é lit e du sec t e u r ca n a d i e n d e s pu li ca ti o n s p r o f e ssi onn e ll e s B e st i n C a n a d i a n B u si n e ss P u b lis h i n g L ' é lite du s ec te u r ca n a d i e n d e s pu li ca t i o n s p r o f e ss i onn e ll e s B e st i n C a n a d i a n B u si n e ss P u b lis h i n g B e st i n C a n a d i a n B u si n e ss P u b lis h i n g L ' é lit e du s ec te u r ca n a d i e n d e s pu li ca t i o n s p r o f e ss i onn e ll e s B e st i n C a n a d i a n B u si n e ss P u b lis h i n g

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