A Canadian law professor is calling for a former Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice to resign her seat at the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal..Beverley McLachlin is one of 10 judges from foreign jurisdictions who remain as non-permanent members of the court. Australian James Spigelman stepped down from the court two years ago after Beijing imposed its National Security Law on Hong Kong..Under the NSL, pro-democracy protesters are being jailed, even though their actions were not illegal at the time..On March 30 this year, British judges Lord Robert Reed and Lord Patrick Hodge also stepped down. .In a statement, Reed wrote, “I have concluded, in agreement with the government, that the judges of the Supreme Court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression.”.But told CBC she’s not going anywhere..“The court is completely independent of the regime in Hong Kong. … There is no governmental influence, and if there were, I wouldn’t be there. But so far, so good. It’s the last vestige, if you wish, of democratic government and the rule of law,” McLachlin told Vassy Kapelos in an interview..“I’m not doing anything negative to prop up that regime. And I think that the role of the independent judges may be helpful in countering [it]. History is replete with examples of judges who have stood up to bad laws, including Canada. Our court would routinely say, ‘This law goes too far, it’s not consistent with the Charter.’”.But Ryan Alford, law professor at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, argued strongly against McLachlin in a series of tweets..“She asserted she may have to rule on the National Security Law. Her Chief Justice has already ruled the Court has no power to do so, or to judge it against binding human rights law. Even if she was appointed by the executive to sit on these cases, she would lack that power,” Alford tweeted..“Hong Kongers are calling for her to go. International human rights groups say go. British judges have left, and her staying is cited by China as proof of a Western political conspiracy against them just as they crack down and destroy their rule of law. For the love of God, go.”.“Civil society organizations in Hong Kong, when they've been asked, ‘Why do you think Beijing wants these foreign judges to remain on the Court of Final Appeal when, for the most part … they are not judging cases?’ They say it is because China wants the world to think that Hong Kong continues to exist as normal under the Sino-British declaration of this special territory with special rights, when that's clearly no longer the case,” Alford told the Western Standard..“She's saying it's really important to be a member of this court to protect judicial independence. Well, that would normally be done by way of judging. McLachlin is not doing any judging on the court of finding. So then the question is, what does she think she's there to do?”.McLachlin received degrees in philosophy and law from the University of Alberta before being appointed as a judge. More recently, she was a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation’s COVID-19 Impact Committee who occasionally opined on public issues..“Freedom without limits slides imperceptibly into freedom to say and do what you want about people who don’t look like you or talk like you. Sadly, the Ottawa truckers’ convoy has revealed this ugly side of freedom,” McLachlin wrote in a February 23 Globe and Mail article..McLachlin sat on the SCC from 2000 to 2017, participated in 2,094 decisions, and authored 442 opinions. Alford believes McLaughlin has drifted since retiring from the SCC and has become an unfortunately good fit for a regime that stifles dissent..“She's tarnishing her legacy. I teach many of her decisions in my constitutional law class, and there's a lot of very strong reasons in there, including fundamental freedoms. And what really is disheartening to a lot of people, including me, is how most with respect to Hong Kong and with respect to her comments about how social media should be regulated by the government, she seems to be resigning from all of those positions,” McLachlin said..“She's being very forward and very clear on her view about regulating social media in a way that's been slammed by every serious commentator. … [This] while she's serving in this role as the non-permanent justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in the midst of its crackdown and destruction and dismantling of the rule of law. To me, that's where you see this really dangerous congruence.”
