Justice Sheilah Martin will retire from the Supreme Court of Canada on May 30, creating a vacancy on the country’s top court.
In this recent Canadian Lawyer article, Chief Justice Richard Wagner praised Martin for her contributions to Canadian jurisprudence and said the appointment process will be guided by “openness, transparency, and integrity.”
Justice Martin’s replacement must come from Western or Northern Canada and must be “functionally bilingual,” a requirement that can significantly limit the candidate pool.
Thomas Slade, partner with Supreme Advocacy, expects that names previously publicly discussed when Justice Moreau was appointed may resurface. He points to possible bilingual contenders such as Manitoba Chief Justice Marianne Rivoalen, Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, Federal Court of Appeal judge Gerald Heckman, and several appellate judges across Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C., and Yukon. Read the full article here.