Supreme Court of Canada Appointment Process - 2019 (Appointment of the Honourable Nicholas Kasirer) [ARCHIVED CONTENT]

On August 7, 2019, the Prime Minister announced the appointment of the Honourable Nicholas Kasirer to the Supreme Court of Canada (view Prime Minister's press release). Under the new process used for the first time in 2016, an independent and non-partisan Advisory Board, was again given the task of identifying suitable candidates who are jurists of the highest caliber, are functionally bilingual, and are representative of the diversity of Canada.

As required by the Supreme Court Act, "At least three of the judges shall be appointed from among the judges of the Court of Appeal or of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec or from among the advocates of that Province." When applying through the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada, candidates needed to make reference to their judicial appointment or bar membership in the Province of Quebec.

To enhance transparency, the assessment criteria guiding the Advisory Board's work, the questionnaire that all applicants had to answer, and certain answers provided in the questionnaire by the Prime Minister’s nominee were all made public and can be found in the following pages. As required by the Terms of Reference, the final report of the Advisory Board will be made public within one month following Justice Kasirer's appointment.