PM TRYING TO MUZZLE JUDGES - LAMER

Shouldn't Interfere In Sentencing, Ex-Chief Justice Says

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is trying to "muzzle" the judiciary by
baldly acknowledging he wants judges who are tough on crime, says the
former chief justice of Canada.

Antonio Lamer, in an interview with CanWest News Service, said he
sympathizes with the Harper government's complaints that some judges
hand out soft sentences, but the prime minister shouldn't be trying to
influence the judiciary just because he's frustrated that his justice
bills are not passing in the minority Parliament.

"I must say I was taken aback," Mr. Lamer said of Mr. Harper's blunt
assertion last week in the House that he wants judges who will enforce
his government's law-and-order agenda. "The prime minister is going
the wrong route as regards to the independence of the judiciary. He's
trying to interfere with the sentencing process."

Mr. Lamer sat on the Supreme Court of Canada for 20 years, spending
his last decade as chief justice before he retired in 2000 at age 66.

During his later years on the court, he was part of a voting bloc that
tended to side with the accused in criminal cases, earning him a
reputation for being soft on crime.

But in an interview in his Ottawa apartment, Mr. Lamer said he thinks
some judges these days are too lenient and some prisoners, such as
drug traffickers, are up for parole too early.

"I will candidly say I have been looking at some sentences and I have
found they are not what they should be. They should be more severe,"
said Mr. Lamer.

"These words coming from me might surprise some people, but I mean
them."

To that end, Mr. Lamer said, he agrees with some of the Harper
government's tough-on-crime initiatives.

But the prime minister's assessment of what he wants in the federal
judiciary flies in the face of judges' duty to be impartial, guard
against wrongful convictions and hand out sentences as they see fit,
the former chief justice said.

"On some points I agree with him, but he's doing it the wrong way,"
Mr. Lamer said. "If he wants to interfere with the sentencing process,
he can legislate, but he's having a hard time legislating in a
minority government; his bills are not getting through."

Mr. Lamer also denounced the much-criticized system of appointing
judges to the 1,100-member federal bench, saying the process is
"flawed" and there is no good reason that either police or community
members should be involved in selecting judges.

Under the existing system, eight-member volunteer panels in each
province screen applicants to the provincial superior courts, appeal
courts, the Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal and Tax Court of
Canada. Three members are chosen by the minister of justice, from the
community at large, and many of the Harper government's picks are
political partisans.

The Harper government recently added a member of the law enforcement
community to each panel, sparking widespread condemnation from the
legal community.

Police, as a special interest group, should be excluded, and members
of the public simply don't know enough about the job of judging to
competently select candidates, Mr. Lamer said.

"Mrs. Smith who is on the board doesn't know what the court is about.
What she knows she probably got off American TV and thinks that judges
use hammers."

Mr. Lamer said judges should be screening judicial candidates seeking
promotions and lawyers should be vetting other lawyers who want to sit
on the bench because they are the ones who know what the job is about.
"If I were on a selection committee to pick the head of neurosurgery,
I wouldn't know anything," he said, by way of comparison.

The selection committees determine whether a candidate is recommended
or not recommended and the minister of justice has the final say.

There are also representatives on each committee from the judiciary,
the legal community, and the provincial attorneys general.

Another flaw is the secrecy of the selection process, Mr. Lamer said.
Committee members cannot ask around about the suitability of a
particular candidate, so the committees are deprived of a full picture
on the applicants they select.

The Harper government has recently come under fire for naming more
than a dozen partisans to the committees, including a Cape Breton
firefighter. The Liberals, while in power, also appointed partisan
committee members.

Mr. Lamer said he takes no issue with the partisan nature of the
appointments as much as he does with the fact they are not from the
legal community.

"Why not have lawyers and judges on the panels picking the chief of
the firefighters?" he asked.