AUGUST 2007
volume 19, number 4
Judiciary: Fair and Reasonable Compensation CBABC submissions advocate on behalf of the Judiciary
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our Association not only speaks for lawyers; we are often called upon to advocate for judges as well. For example, CBABC has a long tradition of actively working to prevent potential political interference regarding the appointment of, and compensation for, judges in B.C. and, through the National CBA, throughout Canada. Represented on the Judicial Council of B.C. by our President, the CBABC assists the Council by preparing confidential reports on all applicants for the Provincial Court Bench. The CBABC is also represented on the Advisory on Judicial Appointments for B.C. for federally-appointed judges. This year, the CBABC made submissions to both the B.C. Judges Compensation Commission for Provincial Court judges and the Judicial Justices of the Peace Compensation Commission. The Judicial Compensation Act requires each of these commissions to report to the Legislative Assembly on all matters respecting the remuneration, allowances and benefits of judges and judicial justices of the peace and to make recommendations with respect to those matters for each of the next three fiscal years. Under the Act, the Legislative Assembly may reject any of the commissions’ recommendations as being unfair or unreasonable, and set the remuneration. The CBABC has recommended that the government provide fair and reasonable compensation for both provincial court judges and justices of the peace.
www.cba.org/bc
For the Judges Compensation Commission, the CBABC submitted, following the legal principles set down by the Supreme Court of Canada, that: • the key components of judicial independence are: security of tenure, administrative independence and financial security; • judicial compensation commissions must be independent, objective and effective; • judges’ salaries must not fall below the basic minimum level of remuneration for the office of a judge that is adequate, commensurate with the status, dignity and responsibility of their office; • judges, although they must ultimately be paid from the public purse, are not civil servants since civil servants are part of the executive, and judges, by definition, are independent of the executive; • if a government rejects the recommendations of a judicial compensation commission, the government must articulate legitimate reasons, relying upon a reasonable factual foundation, for why it has chosen to depart from the recommendations of the commission; and • a government must respect the commission process and achieve the purposes of the commission: to preserve judicial independence and depoliticize judicial remuneration. For a complete version of both CBABC submissions please visit: www.cba.org/bc. BT