OTTAWA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce his selection for a vacant seat on Canada’s top court Wednesday. In an invitation sent to faculty and students at the University of Ottawa law school, Trudeau revealed he’ll name the person to fill the Supreme Court of Canada seat that, by tradition, has been held by a judge representing the West.That invitation said the nominee will participate in a question-and-answer session, likely held by an ad hoc parliamentary committee on Dec. 5.It is widely believed that Trudeau wants to make history with this appointment, possibly by appointing Canada’s first Indigenous Supreme Court judge.Many have speculated about a possible appointment of Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, who became Saskatchewan’s first female Aboriginal judge when she was named to the provincial court in 1998.An accomplished legal scholar, Turpel-Lafond has a doctorate in law from Harvard, has taught and written extensively on Indigenous law and law reform. She gained a national profile in her work as B.C.’s children’s advocate.However, some in the legal community have also suggested to the Star she would appear not to meet certain qualifications set out in the Supreme Court Act. That act says a Supreme Court judge is someone “who is or has been a judge of a Superior Court of a province, or a barrister or advocate of at least 10 years standing at the bar of a province.”Turpel-Lafond was admitted to the Nova Scotia bar in 1991, and was named to Saskatchewan’s provincial court bench — which is not a Superior Court — in 1998, after seven years at bar. Her appointment could spur some of the kinds of objections that met the past Conservative government’s appointment of Marc Nadon to a Quebec seat on the court. Other possible names that have floated around the legal community for several weeks are Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Sheilah Martin and Saskatchewan Court of Appeal’s ...
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