Judges Appointment Process

The judges making these decisions are appointed by the federal government.
Individuals who apply for an appeal court position without any prior judicial experience, have their applications vetted by a screening committee composed of legal members, lay members and, more recently, a police officer. Candidates are evaluated on their professional qualifications
~including awareness of racial and gender issues! and personal characteristics and then “recommended” or “not recommended” to the Minister of Justice who retains full discretion to choose among candidates. The majority of candidates are promoted from a lower court and do not go through the committee process at this stage. However, the minister typically undertakes consultations with the legal community before promoting
Our earlier research on federal judicial appointments following the introduction of the screening committees shows that for the 1989 to 2003 time period 27 per cent of provincial appeal court appointees had “major” participation with the governing party that appointed them ~such as campaign organizing or close social ties to a cabinet minister!, and 15 per cent had more “minor” activities and associations ~political