Case information

Administrative law — Jurisdiction — Judicial review — Constitutional law — Judicial independence — Whether, for removal of federally appointed judge from office under s. 99 of Constitution Act, 1867, unwritten constitutional principle of judicial independence requires that ground for removal related to good behaviour be established first by entity from judicial branch — Consequences flowing from judicial and constitutional nature of decisions of Canadian Judicial Council in relation, in particular, to review of their legality.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The respondent Justice Girouard was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 2010. He was suspended with pay in 2013. His conduct was reviewed by the applicant, the Canadian Judicial Council. In the course of that review, Justice Girouard filed applications for judicial review against the Council in the Federal Court. In response to those applications by Justice Girouard, the Council informed the Federal Court in 2018 that it did not recognize the court’s jurisdiction. In an order, the Federal Court then granted party status to the Council for the purpose of arguing the jurisdiction issue, and directed it to proceed by way of motion to strike Justice Girouard’s applications for judicial review. The Federal Court dismissed the Council’s motions to strike. Noël J. found that the Council is a “federal board, commission or other tribunal” as defined in s. 2 of the Federal Courts Act and that the Council’s reports and recommendations are reviewable under s. 18.1 of the Federal Courts Act. The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.