Advisory body was ‘very keen’ to have Indigenous Supreme Court candidate: Campbell

Jun 22, 2021 | 10:12 AM

OTTAWA — The head of an independent advisory board on Supreme Court appointments says the body was “very keen” to find an Indigenous candidate to fill the latest vacancy.

But Kim Campbell suggests at a House of Commons committee today the need to be functionally bilingual limited the scope of choice.

Campbell, a former prime minister and justice minister, indicates that relatively junior judges or lawyers were among the bilingual Indigenous possibilities for the top court.

From a shortlist drafted by the advisory board, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently named Ontario judge Mahmud Jamal to the Supreme Court.