Canada's lawyers and judges are determined to retain their "private club" for screening candidates for prestigious federal judgeships, despite a perception the process is tainted by politics and backscratching, says the president of the Canadian Professional Police Association.

Tony Cannavino, reacting to criticism that police should not have a seat at the table for vetting judges, said yesterday the legal establishment is unfairly treating officers like second-class players in the justice system who can't be trusted to make objective choices.

"Are we not of the same class?" Mr. Cannavino asked in an interview. "Our intentions are not to bulldoze any committee. What we are going to bring there is another angle and it should be a good thing. Why keep it like a private club where most Canadians doubt the objectivity of the selections?"

Justice Minister Vic Toews angered the legal community, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, when he said last week that police officers would sit alongside judges, lawyers, provincial representatives and lay persons on committees in each province that screen candidates for the 1,100-member federally appointed judiciary.

Chief Justice McLachlin, as head of the Canadian Judicial Council, initiated the outcry when she issued an unprecedented public statement taking Mr. Toews to task for not consulting judges about the change, which she said threatened the independent advisory process for judicial appointments.

Other members of the legal establishment followed by complaining that police, as a special interest group with a law-and-order bent that reflects the thinking of the Conservative government, have no place selecting members of the bench.

Mr. Cannavino said police could argue lawyers who sit on the committee have an agenda of their own to promote their friends or lawyers with a particular ideology.

"It's like scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, and now they're offended that a police representative would sit on their committee. Their reaction stunned me. ... It's almost condescending," Mr. Cannavino said.

Mr. Cannavino said he was also astonished at the strong reaction from Canada's chief justice. But he was reluctant to lash out at Chief Justice McLachlin, who leads a court where police appear frequently to seek powers or defend their practices.

The head of the police association also implored the legal community to "at least try to show that you're open minded" by giving police a chance.

Newspaper editorial writers across the country have joined in the condemnation of the Conservative move, many of them accusing Mr. Toews of trying to make the judiciary more law-and-order minded.

Until now, the committees have rated judges as highly recommended, recommended, or not recommended, a process that screened out the worst candidates.

Under a new system, judges will be given a grade of pass or fail, giving Mr. Toews a potentially wider pool of candidates from which to pick. The minister of justice, as before, will make the final decision.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2006