Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Only 1 Woman Applied to Fill Empty Supreme Court Seat, Panel Chair Kim Campbell Says. No applicants were Indigenous or self-identified as a minority. Jordan Press ~~ Canadian Press / HUFFPOST ~~ 07/25/2019 OTTAWA — More women, Indigenous and minority judges could find themselves on the Supreme Court if the government took a longer view of filling spots instead of scrambling to fill vacancies, says former prime minister Kim Campbell ... headed the advisory body that led to Quebec judge Nicholas Kasirer’s being nominated to succeed Justice Clement Gascon ... ... suggested that rather than opening applications whenever a vacancy pops up — even retirements that come with six months of notice, as Gascon’s has — federal officials could have ongoing talks with the judiciary and the wider legal community about the needs of the Supreme Court to encourage more people...

Muslim anti-racism activist wants the Conservative leader to “make the right move.” Althia Ra ~~ Huffpost ~~ 06/02/2019 OTTAWA — A Muslim anti-racism activist, who was berated by a Conservative MP last week, says Andrew Scheer’s response is far from adequate and that Michael Cooper should be booted out of caucus if the Tory leader is serious about showing racists the door. Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council president Faisal Khan Suri told HuffPost Canada that while he hasn’t seen Cooper demonstrate any racism , he believes the way the St. Albert—Edmonton MP behaved “seemed that he had a very bigoted and extremist viewpoint .” “I would request Mr. Andrew Scheer to make the right move and to really, actually, have Mr. Cooper removed from caucus. It is detrimental to have such leaders part of any party, and part of Parliament. It’s dangerous to have such a person there,” he said, in a phone interview Saturday night.  CLICK HERE to read to ...