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New Questions about an Old Concept: The Supreme Court of Canada's Judicial Independence Decisions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2005

Peter McCormick
Peter McCormick
Affiliation:
University of Lethbridge
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Abstract

Abstract. In the age of the Charter, courts are an important part of the policy process, and judicial independence is the concept that structures the interactions between courts and other institutions. Historically, judicial independence in Canada was modelled on (and little different from) that of England; but politically-led reforms in the 1970s, and a string of more than a dozen Supreme Court decisions centred on the 1997 Remuneration Reference, are transforming the concept. At the same time, a parallel string of cases extends more limited but essentially similar guarantees to some other administrative bodies. Together, these developments represent an important and enduring change in the Canadian political landscape.

Résumé. À l'ère de la Charte, les tribunaux sont un élément important de l'élaboration des politiques publiques, et l'indépendance judiciaire est le fondement des interactions entre les tribunaux et les autres institutions. Par le passé, l'indépendance judiciaire au Canada épousait le modèle britannique (et s'en éloignait assez peu); cependant, des réformes politiquement inspirées dans les années 1970 et une série de plus d'une douzaine de jugements de la Cour suprême centrés sur le renvoi de 1997 relatif à la rémunération sont en train de transformer ce concept. En même temps, une série de cas parallèles accorde des garanties plus limitées mais très similaires à d'autres corps administratifs. Ces changements se conjuguent pour modifier considérablement et de façon permanente le paysage politique canadien.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 839 - 862
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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