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. The chief justice 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 the role of Administrator of Canada and exercises the viceregal duties of the governor general upon the death, resignation or incapacitation of the governor general.
Richard Wagner has served as the current chief justice of Canada since 2017. 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; Beverley McLachlin is the longest serving Canadian chief justice (17 years, 341 days), and was the first woman to hold the position.
Appointment
The chief justice is appointed by the Governor in Council under the Supreme Court Act on the advice of the prime minister.[2] 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 (with its civil law system), and the other six justices from the rest of Canada (representing the common law tradition). 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.[3] The chief justice presides from the centre chair. If the chief justice is absent, the senior puisne judge presides.[3]
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 a federal or provincial minister of justice or attorney general, into the conduct of any federally appointed judge.
Other duties
The chief justice is sworn as a member of the Privy Council prior to taking the judicial oath of office.[4] The chief justice 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.[5]
Administrator of Canada
The Constitution Act, 1867 provides that there can be an "Administrator for the Time being carrying on the Government of Canada."[6] The Letters Patent, 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 Administrator of Canada and exercise all the powers and duties of the governor general.[7] This has happened on four 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. With the resignation of Julie Payette in January 2021, Richard Wagner served as Administrator until the appointment of Mary Simon as Governor General in July of the same year.[8][9]
The current chief justice is Richard Wagner, who took office on December 18, 2017, succeeding Beverley McLachlin. Born in Montreal on April 2, 1957, Wagner had been a puisne Supreme Court justice for 5 years, 74 days 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:[10]
This graphical timeline depicts the length of each justice's tenure as chief justice:[10]
Notes
^The start date listed for each chief justice is the day the justice took the judicial oath of office, and the end date is the date of the justice's death, resignation, or retirement.
^Appointed directly from the Cabinet, and never served as puisne justice; only time the chief justiceship has been filled from outside the judiciary.[11]
^Assumed vice regal duties as Administrator of Canada February 11 – June 21, 1940, following the death in office of Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir.
^Assumed vice regal duties as Administrator of Canada March 5 – April 17, 1967, following the death in office of Governor General Georges Vanier.
^Assumed vice regal duties as Administrator of Canada in July 2005 when Governor General Adrienne Clarkson underwent surgery.[12]
^Assumed vice-regal duties as Administrator of Canada January 23 – July 26, 2021, following the resignation of Governor-General Julie Payette.
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