Popular Christian Judge Appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada

Steve Weatherbe : Jul 31, 2015
LifeSiteNews

Law professor Russell Brown has been appointed in time to weigh in on what is believed to be the most important religious freedom case of the decade.

(Canada)—Russell Brown, a law professor at Edmonton's University of Alberta two and a half short years ago, is the newest—and, at 50, the youngest—member of Canada's Supreme Court, selected by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper a few months before a national election the polls show he risks losing. (Photo via LifeSiteNews)

Brown's appointment is already being characterized as an attempt by Harper to pack the Court with conservative judges who will not try to legislate from the bench nor liberalize existing laws.

But unlike some of Harper's recent judicial appointees to lower courts, such as Ontarians David Moseley Brown and Bradley Miller, Brown has provided no evidence in his writings or rulings that he is part of the long-range scheme, warned of in Marci McDonald's The Armageddon Factor: the Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, to "de-liberalize" the country's judiciary.

The Canadian Lawyer, for example, led its report on Brown's appointment with, "In what many are calling a controversial and conservative choice..." but it could not provide any person, named or quoted anonymously, who rated Brown either "controversial" or "conservative."

Instead, both the CL and the Globe could find only admirers, such as Craig Jones of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, where Brown guest-lectured in February. "I'm a fan," said Jones. "I think it's a great long-term appointment."

Brown's long-time U of A colleague Paul Sankoff agreed. Sankoff, lamented CL, "wouldn't comment on whether Brown has 'conservative' leanings, saying rather he sees him as 'a guy with an open mind.'" Sankoff also described Brown as having "healthy respect for judicial precedent"—meaning judges should make decisions consistent with previous rulings by superior courts.

Added Sankoff: "I've read a lot of his decisions on the bench and I'm reluctant to peg him as an ideologue of one sort or another... What surprised me was how rigorous and well thought out a lot of his criminal law decisions [are]."

The Globe and Mail also termed Brown a "conservative" without being able to cite a single quoted critic in support. It too found only admirers, such as one anonymous Alberta source who called Brown "a good guy, but strong. Nobody's going to push him around down there [in the Supreme Court of Canada]." Alberta defense lawyer Brian Hurley said, "The left-wing defense lawyers I know breathed a sigh of relief," because they feared, explained the Globe, "a more right-wing judge."

Brown has been appointed in time to weigh in on what conservatives believe is the most important religious freedom case of the decade, which pits Trinity Western University against the legal professions in three provinces.

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