Recently, The Globe and Mail featured articles and an editorial complaining about the fact that a disproportionate number of federal judicial appointments were white and that minority groups in Canada were not fairly represented.
When I was called to the bar in 1960, there were perhaps two or three federally appointed Jewish judges. Over the years, that number changed to the point where at one time there were more Jewish judges in the Ontario Court of Appeal than non-Jews.
That, in my opinion, was not because of a clamour for the appointment of more Jewish judges but rather a recognition that those appointed were the best legal minds available.
The same is true with the increase in the number of female appointees. Again, not because of their sex but because of their ability.
The same will hold true with candidates of colour or from other minorities and once their credentials are vetted and it is determined that they are the best available, those appointments will be given.
In my opinion, to do otherwise would pervert the judicial system in the interest of some perceived political correctness.
Bert Raphael
Raphael Barristers
Thornhill, Ont.
