Justice Minister Peter MacKay defended remarks he made in a speech to the Ontario Bar Association last week in which he reportedly said the reason there are fewer women on federal benches is because they arenât applying. Instead, he said, women are choosing to stay at home with their children.
Arleen Huggins, president of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, told CTVâs Power Play Thursday that she was surprised and âvery much concernedâ by the response she got from the justice minister after asking him at the meeting of lawyers in Toronto what initiatives the federal government was taking to increase the diversity of federal judicial appointments.
âHis comments, to say the least, were quite surprising to many of us in the room and basically commenced with a suggestion that minorities and women were not applying to the bench, and his explanation for why women were likely not applying for positions, as he believed, was that they had a bond between themselves and their young children, and were fearful that as he called it, the old boys network would send them off to circuit courts.â
Speaking with reporters Thursday, MacKay defended his comments, saying there is âno questionâ that women have a greater bond with their children at early childhood.
Huggins said MacKay âseems to not be cognizant of the issues in respect to judicial representation of minorities and women on the bench.â
In addition, Huggins said she was in disbelief that the justice minister âwould believe that women that have been practicing as lawyers for a lengthy time by the time they apply, would not be applying because of the challenges of motherhood, which quite frankly, are the challenges they already experience as lawyers.â
âAnd obviously, raising children is not unique to being a mother, as opposed to a father,â Huggins added.
News of the speech generated a negative reaction on Twitter.
, I don't want the Justice Minister using 1950s excuses for why there aren't enough women being appointed to the federal courts.
â Kevin Bosch (@kevinjbosch)
Mr MacKay do yourself a favor and just stop it. Your giving us all a bad rep. As a stayathome dad. Thanks bonehead.
â Dokisdoc (@dokisdoc)
I want to live in a country where the Justice Minister doesn't defend his own government's Glass Ceiling
â Nickie (@MuskokaMoneybag)
and mother of a daughter I find your excuse for lack of diversity in courts insulting and pathetic
â erika wybourn (@erikawybourn)
I'm surprised mothers leave the house at all. Such a bond with their children. Unless they're going out to get weed.
â Monica Rooney (@monicarooney)
Jasminka Kalajdzic, a Windsor law professor also tweeted at MacKay, saying half of law schools are comprised of smart, hardworking women.
âWeâve played our role,â Kalajdzic said. âNow you play yours.â
âWard and June Cleaver are deadâ: Liberals
In question period Thursday, Toronto Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland called on MacKay to apologize for his âblatant chauvinism.â
âAs one of the many mothers of young children in this House, I wonder if the minister believes that we too, should be intimidated by the old boysâ network? Does he think that we too, should stay at home because of our special maternal bond with our young children?
MacKay did not apologize, but instead rose to say that it was a âcomplete mischaracterizationâ of his words.
âWith respect to judicial appointments, theyâre based on one criteria and one criteria only: merit and judicial excellence,â MacKay said. âWith respect to minorities and women being promoted to the judiciary, I think we can all agree that the government plays an important role in that, but so too, do law schools, so too, do law societies and that is exactly the message I was bringing to the Ontario Bar Association.â
MacKay also said the Conservatives are encouraging more women to apply to judicial roles. âWeâre going to continue to appoint women to the bench because they deserve to be there.â
But his remarks didnât silence other opposition MPs, who called the justice minister a throwback to a bygone era.
Calling MacKayâs comments the âlatest salvoâ on the Conservativesâ âwarâ on modernity, Liberal MP Scott Brison said they also reflect the Conservativesâ âArchie Bunker-inspired policiesâ on early learning child care and income-splitting.
âWhen will this government realize that Ward and June Cleaver are dead, and when will they stop trying to drag Canada back to the 1950s?â Brison said.
NDP MP Megan Leslie asked the Conservatives why they donât encourage gender parity on the bench instead of âspewing nonsense.â
âThe minister doubled-down on his comments saying that women have a greater bond with their children,â Leslie said. âWell, women have babies, this isnât news. What is news, is the ministerâs disrespectful attitude, and his governmentâs failure to accept responsibility for the appointment of women and minorities to the courts.â
Conservative MP Kellie Leitch appeared to come to her governmentâs defence in question period, saying since the Tories took power, the number of women in public appointments has only risen.
As of June 1, 24 of the 81 federally appointed judges in Canada were women, which puts their representation at nearly 30 per cent.
Questions over judicial selection
On Power Play, Huggins said MacKay failed to adequately address questions over the federal judicial appointment process itself, including who is applying for the bench, and what level they reach in the selection process.
âThere is no evidence that the slate that they put before the government is even chosen from, so the government has no obligation, and has not committed to an obligation, to even choose from the slate of candidates that their own judicial advisory committee recommends to them. So thatâs a big problem.â
Huggins also said there is âno justificationâ for MacKayâs comment that minorities and women are not applying.
âWe are understand they are applying,â she said.
With files from The Canadian Press