Canadian judge (born 1952)
Thomas Albert Cromwell
CC
(born May 5, 1952) is a
Canadian
jurist and former
Puisne Justice
on the
Supreme Court of Canada
.
[1]
After eleven years on the
Nova Scotia Court of Appeal
, Cromwell was nominated to succeed
Michel Bastarache
and occupy the seat traditionally reserved for Atlantic provinces on the
Supreme Court of Canada
by Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
[2]
and assumed office on December 22, 2008.
[2]
Cromwell retired in September 2016, and was succeeded by
Malcolm Rowe
.
Known as a centrist on Canada's highest court, his reasoning as a provincial appellate judge in
R v Marshall; R v Bernard
was adopted by unanimous decision in the landmark
Aboriginal title
case of
Tsilhqot'in Nation v British Columbia
in 2014 during his tenure.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Cromwell was born in
Kingston, Ontario
.
[3]
He attended
Queen's University
where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1973 and a law degree in 1976. He then earned a
Bachelor of Civil Law
degree at
Exeter College, Oxford
in 1977.
[4]
He also earned an ARCT Diploma from the
Royal Conservatory of Music
in 1974.
[2]
Career
[
edit
]
He practised law in Kingston from 1979 to 1982 and was a sessional lecturer in
civil procedure
at the
Queen's Law School
from 1980 to 1982. He was a professor of law at
Dalhousie University
from 1982 to 1992 and again from 1995 to 1997.
[2]
Between these two periods he was Executive Legal Officer in the chambers of then-
Chief Justice of Canada
Antonio Lamer
.
[3]
In 1997,
Jean Chretien
appointed him to the
Nova Scotia Court of Appeal
as a direct appointment (meaning he did not serve on a lower court).
[5]
In that role, Cromwell decided in favour of recognizing the claimant's
Aboriginal title
in
R v Marshall; R v Bernard
, but his reasoning was overturned by the Supreme Court.
[3]
When announcing the nomination to the Supreme Court of Canada, Harper stated that Cromwell would not be appointed to the bench until he had answered questions from an
ad hoc
all-party committee of the House of Commons.
[6]
However, this process was bypassed when Cromwell was officially appointed; Prime Minister Harper had expressed concern that waiting for the committee to meet would hobble the court in executing "its vital constitutional mandate effectively."
[7]
However, Parliament wound up meeting only very seldom after Cromwell's initial nomination, mainly because of a federal election called by Harper for October 14, and then the subsequent proroguing of Parliament on December 4, until its scheduled resumption on January 26, 2009.
While on the Supreme Court, Cromwell joined the rest of the court in a unanimous decision in
Tsilhqot'in Nation v British Columbia
to recognize the existence of Aboriginal title for the
Tsilhqot'in
. The decision that drew in large part from his previously rejected Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruling in
R v Marshall; R v Bernard,
vindicating his earlier judgement.
[3]
Cromwell wrote the minority opinion in
R v Jordan
, criticizing the majority's decision to impose strict time limits of 18 months in
provincial court
and 30 months in
superior court
after which a case would be
stayed
for "presumptively unreasonable" delay except in exceptional circumstances. Cromwell argued that what was unreasonable was specific to each individual case, and the numbers decided by the majority without much discussion, would lead to more stays than necessary.
[8]
Justice Cromwell retired from the Supreme Court of Canada on September 1, 2016, at the age of 64, fulfilling a personal intention to resign around age 65.
[9]
[10]
Throughout his eight-year service on the Supreme Court, Cromwell authored around a hundred decisions and earned a reputation as a centrist, neither left or right, activist or deferent.
[9]
[3]
After his departure from the Supreme Court, Chief Justice
Beverley McLachlin
asked him to remain as the chair of the
Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
's action committee addressing issues related to access to justice for civil and family matters.
[9]
Cromwell's departure from the Supreme Court before the mandatory retirement of 75 hurried plans by the government of Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau
to create an independent nominee advisory board chaired by former prime minister
Kim Campbell
.
[9]
In February 2017, Cromwell joined
Borden Ladner Gervais
as counsel.
[11]
On February 12, 2019, former
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Jody Wilson-Raybould
retained Cromwell to advise her in the wake of her resignation from the federal cabinet.
[12]
In December 2020, Cromwell was commissioned by the
University of Toronto Faculty of Law
to conduct an impartial investigation of the search process it had used to hire a new director for its International Human Rights Program. The report was commissioned after allegations that a sitting judge of the
Tax Court of Canada
, David Spiro, had improperly interfered with the search process.
[13]
On March 15, 2021 Cromwell released his report.
[14]
The Report has drawn criticism from legal scholars and academics as to its accuracy, scope,
[15]
[16]
and potential conflict of interest issues.
[17]
The scandal and subsequent Report has led to the
Canadian Association of University Teachers
censuring the University of Toronto.
[18]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"The Honourable Thomas Albert Cromwell"
. Archived from
the original
on 2017-08-31
. Retrieved
2017-08-30
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Prime Minister Harper announces appointment of Thomas Cromwell to Supreme Court of Canada"
. Archived from
the original
on January 13, 2010
. Retrieved
August 28,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Bronskill, Jim (March 22, 2016).
"Supreme Court Justice Thomas Cromwell to retire in September"
.
Macleans.ca
. Retrieved
March 21,
2017
.
- ^
"Thomas Cromwell appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada"
.
Exeter College, Oxford
. 11 January 2018
. Retrieved
28 August
2019
.
- ^
"Hamilton's online newspaper | Today's Spectator stories"
.
TheSpec.com
. 2015-12-18
. Retrieved
2016-02-17
.
- ^
Tories set nomination process for new SCC judge
.
CTV News
, May 29, 2008.
- ^
"PM names Thomas Cromwell to Supreme Court"
. Archived from
the original
on December 24, 2008
. Retrieved
December 23,
2008
.
- ^
Gallant, Jacques (March 19, 2017).
"How an 'invented' Supreme Court ruling has rocked the Canadian justice system"
.
thestar.com
. Retrieved
March 21,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Crawford, Alison (September 14, 2016).
"Retiring Supreme Court Justice Thomas Cromwell turns focus to legal access"
.
CBC News
. Retrieved
March 21,
2017
.
- ^
"News Release - SCC Cases (Lexum)"
.
scc-csc.lexum.com
. January 2001
. Retrieved
March 21,
2017
.
- ^
Melnitzer, Julius (February 27, 2017).
"Former Supreme Court justice Thomas Cromwell joins BLG and other legal moves and grooves for Feb. 27"
.
Financial Post
. Retrieved
March 21,
2017
.
- ^
"Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former justice minister, resigns from federal cabinet"
.
National Post
. February 12, 2019
. Retrieved
February 12,
2019
.
- ^
"President's Response to the Report of the Hon. Thomas A. Cromwell, C.C. - Office of the President"
. 29 March 2021
. Retrieved
2021-05-17
.
- ^
Cromwell, Thomas (March 15, 2021).
"Independent Review of the Search Process for the Directorship of the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
May 17,
2021
.
- ^
"About"
.
Censure UofT
. 2021-05-05
. Retrieved
2021-05-18
.
- ^
Reaume, Denise.
"An Analysis of the Cromwell Report - Executive Summary"
. Retrieved
2021-05-18
.
- ^
"Bad Times at a Great University and Its Law School"
.
Centre for Free Expression
. 2021-04-21
. Retrieved
2021-05-17
.
- ^
"Censure UofT"
.
Censure UofT
. Retrieved
2021-05-18
.
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