Manitoba judge not sanctioned for weighing in on federal judicial appointments

The national oversight body of Canadian courts has found that it was wrong for a Manitoba judge to give her opinion on who should be appointed to the Manitoba's courts to a federal cabinet minister, who is also her husband.

However, the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC), will not punish Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Colleen Suche because it found she was acting as an advisor to Winnipeg South Center MP Jim Carr. 

Christopher E. Hinkson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, was asked to investigate the matter by the CJC.

"It is Chief Justice Hinkson's conclusion that given her husband's position, the activities of Madam Justice Suche have gone far beyond this sort of commentary, and entered an area that is beyond the acceptable ambit for a sitting judge," says a letter dated April 28 from the CJC to Conservative MP Rob Moore.

In the letter, Suche says she understands the judicial appointment process must be non-partisan, and that she has tried to avoid situations that could put her in a conflict of interest.

"Madam Justice Suche indicates that she has no role or presence of any kind in her husband's work nor he in hers," the letter said.

Regardless, Hinkson found that, as a sitting judge married to a cabinet minister, Suche should have avoided any communication about judicial appointments with the executive branch, the letter added.

Investigation prompted by complaint

The ruling stems from a complaint made by the federal Conservative party about articles published by the Globe and Mail last February that focused on leaked emails from between 2017 and 2018, that showed how the Liberal government chose which lawyers were appointed to judges.

Part of the focus was on Carr and Suche, who disagreed with several candidates that then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould had selected. The two later submitted identical candidate lists to Wilson-Raybould's office and that of the attorney general.

According to the CJC, the Conservatives' complaint claimed that Suche provided Carr with a list of people who she considered to be suitable candidates for judicial appointment.

More broadly, the complaint questioned the impartiality of judicial appointments by the Liberal party, and Suche's role in the process, the CJC letter says.

Suche confirmed that she gave the names of judicial candidates to the Minister of Justice's office, but only because Wilson-Raybold asked for the judge to do so, according to the letter.

Suche also confirmed that the lists she and Carr provided were the same, but only because he "asked for [her] opinion about qualification of candidates because he did not know any of the people in issue," the CJC letter says.

After the Globe and Mail articles came out, Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba Glenn Joyal asked Suche to refrain from weighing in on judicial applicants as long as Carr is still in Ottawa, according to the CJC.

In matters of judicial conduct, the CJC has to determine whether a judge be removed from office by Parliament. 

Suche will not be removed as a judge.

"The Canadian Judicial Council has reaffirmed longstanding and important demarcation lines that exist to separate the Judiciary and the Executive Branch," Joyal and Richard Chartier, Chief Justice of Manitoba, said in a statement.

"These lines are critical, not only to maintaining judicial independence, but also, to preserving the integrity of the federal judicial appointment process for all courts across Canada. It is the integrity of that process upon which all Canadians depend."

Though Joyal and Chartier would not comment specifically on the CJC investigation, they said Suche's actions "occurred without our authorization."