Chief Justice of Canada

The Chief Justice is appointed by the Governor General-in-Council under the federal Supreme Court Act on the advice of the Prime Minister.[2] The appointment is subject to the Supreme Court Act, which governs the administration and appointment of judges of the court. By this component of the Constitution of Canada, Judges appointed to the court must be "a judge of a superior court of a province or a barrister or advocate of at least ten years standing at the bar of a province."

Tradition dictates that the chief justice be appointed from among the Court's puisne judges; in the history of the Court, only two were not: William Buell Richards, and Charles Fitzpatrick. It is also customary that a new chief justice be chosen alternately from among: the three justices who by law must be from Quebec (with its civil law system), and the other six justices from the rest of Canada (representing the common law tradition). Since 1933, this tradition has only been broken once, when Brian Dickson of Manitoba was named to succeed Bora Laskin of Ontario in 1984.

The Chief Justice's central duty is to preside at hearings before the Supreme Court.[3] The Chief Justice presides from the centre chair. If the Chief Justice is absent, the senior puisne judge presides.[3]

The Letters Patent of 1947 respecting the Office of Governor General provide that, should the Governor General die, become incapacitated, or be absent from the country for a period of more than one month, the Chief Justice or, if that office is vacant, the Senior Puisne Justice, of the Supreme Court would become the Administrator of Canada and exercise all the powers and duties of the Governor General. This has happened on four occasions: Chief Justices Lyman Duff and Robert Taschereau each did so, in 1940 and 1967 respectively, following the death of the incumbent Governor General, as did Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin when the Governor General underwent surgery in 2005. With the resignation of Julie Payette in January 2021, Richard Wagner is currently serving as Administrator.[6]

The Chief Justice and the other Justices of the Court serve as deputies of the Governor General for the purpose of giving Royal Assent to bills passed by parliament, signing official documents or receiving credentials of newly appointed high commissioners and ambassadors.

The current Chief Justice is Richard Wagner, who took office on December 18, 2017, replacing Beverley McLachlin, the first woman to hold this position. Born in Montreal on April 2, 1957, he had been a puisne Supreme Court justice for 5 years, 74 days at the time of his elevation to chief justice. He previously sat on the Quebec Court of Appeal.

Since the Supreme Court was established in 1875, the following 18 persons have served as Chief Justice:[7]

This graphical timeline depicts the length of each justice's tenure as chief justice:[7]