The recent appointment of Michelle O’Bonsawin to the Supreme Court of Canada is disturbing. Justice O’Bonsawin’s original application for a job in the federal judiciary included such statements as “… a judge must always interpret the Constitution as a living document, which must reflect the beliefs and aspirations of generations since its original coming into force” and “I believe that my strengths would allow me be an active, progressive and productive member of the judiciary.”
Perhaps her most revealing, and contradictory assertion, was “The judge must follow the stare decisis principle [legal precedent], which provides predictability and consistency, while also working to move society forward progressively and in accordance with the law.”
O’Bonsawin’s progressive beliefs were confirmed in remarks she made during a question-and-answer session with parliamentarians in which it was reported that her role model was retired Chief Justice of Canada Beverley McLachlin, perhaps Canada’s most progressive justice ever to have sat on the Supreme Court!
Courts of Politics
When you have “progressive judges” you no longer have a Court of Law, but rather a Court of Politics.
Canada and Canadians have long suffered the ill effects of a Court of Politics rather than a Court of Law, not only in Ottawa but in courtrooms across the country. Courts of Politics have repeatedly substituted their progressive ideas for the laws duly enacted by Parliament and/or Provincial Legislatures which they deem to have failed to live up to these elites’ agenda—a progressive agenda that has neither the support, nor approval of, the vast majority of Canadians.
Long gone are the days of judicial prudence and deference to Parliament’s authority to legislate. Instead, we have the Court of Politics only too glad to step in and correct legislation when Parliament/Legislatures get it “wrong” according to the judges’ own personal ideology.
In short, the Courts of Politics no longer protect rights, but invent them with the sole criteria of advancing the progressive agenda, which is anti-God, anti-family and anti-life.
Institutionalizing the Culture of Death
One of the most egregious decisions to come from the Supreme Court was its 2015 decision in Carter v. Canada (Attorney General) in which the Court overturned its 1993 ruling in Rodriguez v. British Columbia (Attorney General), which had denied a right to assisted suicide. The Carter decision led to the passage of Bill C-14 in 2016 which allowed for medically assisted suicide (now rebranded as “euthanasia” or MAiD “Medical Assistance in Dying”) with the restriction that such procedure be available only to mentally competent adults with “enduring and intolerable suffering” and in cases where death is reasonably foreseeable. It also mandated a 10-day reflection period when possible, and other safeguards.
The 2016 legislation, however, was found wanting in the 2019 Quebec case, Truchon v. Attorney General of Canada, in which a single judge of the Quebec Superior Court held that restricting euthanasia to those whose death is “reasonably foreseeable” violated the Charter’s s. 7 guarantee to “life, liberty, and security of the person” and s. 15’s guarantee of “equal protection” under the law.
Trudeau’s Justice Department did not appeal this decision and, instead, introduced Bill C-7 in 2020, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) which was subsequently passed in 2021. The 2021 amendments eliminated and/or relaxed safeguards provided in the initial legislation. Moreover, Bill C-7 also contained a provision requiring a review for MAiD to be accessed by persons who have a mental illness. This review was to be made to the Ministers of Justice and Health a year later.
The stage has been set to expand the MAiD regime to those suffering from mental illness, disabilities, poverty, “mature minors”, and, most recently, newborn babies with malformations and grave and severe syndromes. How long before the demands of “self-autonomy” require MAiD be made available to anyone who wants it, simply by asking for it? The MAiD regime has not made, and will not make, Canada a more compassionate society, but rather has facilitated a huge power shift to the medical profession, a profession which these days offers little or no evidence that it understands its first duty: Do No Harm.
Social Ills Made Worse by Progressive Judges
There is a clear pattern here. The Court of Politics has not only made the institutionalization of the Culture of Death possible through MAiD, it has also aided and abetted that Culture of Death in the moral, social, and economic decay of Canadian society in other areas, such as abortion, access to drugs, progressive education, compromised religious freedom, prostitution, pornography, indecency, and the imposition of the controversial carbon tax. Indeed, it appears that on every “hot button” social issue, the majority of the judges of the Supreme Court, as well as those in other courts across the land, consistently rule in favour of the progressive agenda and against legislated norms rooted in Canadian tradition and Judeo-Christian values and morality.
Time for Reform
It doesn’t have to be this way. Canada is still a country with parliamentary institutions that can re-balance the progressive agenda emanating from Supreme Court politics. Only Parliament can bring the necessary discipline to the courts, to return them to the law rather than politics. The vast majority of Canadians know that something is terribly wrong with this country and want to see a course correction away from the disastrous one that progressives have been steering us on for a generation.
Judicial Selection Process
The selection and appointment of federal judges is entirely within Parliament’s jurisdiction. Period. The Judicial Selection process needs to be open and transparent and focused on having appointments confirmed by a free and recorded vote in the House of Commons, instead of by the Prime Minister and his paid advisors. The “application” for a lawyer to apply for a judicial appointment should be eliminated. Anyone who applies for the position is not worthy of the position.
Use the Charter to Save Responsible Government
It is time Parliament reclaimed its right as the only legitimate law-making authority in Canada. Courts of Law are to interpret law, Parliament makes law. It is time for Parliament to readdress the damage done by the progressive judges who have burdened Canada. Parliament must use the Notwithstanding Clause (S. 33) of the Charter which allows it to overturn court rulings.