By John Jalsevac
December 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conservative Attorney General Rob Nicholson’s department has filed a motion to quash the application of Order of Canada recipient Frank Chauvin, which seeks to put the decision to award Henry Morgentaler the Order of Canada to a judicial review.
Chauvin, a retired police detective from Windsor Ontario and an Order of Canada recipient, is basing his legal challenge on irregularities in the decision process regarding Morgentaler’s appointment. He has charged, in particular, that Chief Justice of Canada Beverley McLachlin, who chairs the council, should have removed herself from the process because Morgentaler is a litigant in a court case against the government of New Brunswick.
That McLachlin did not recuse herself, charges Chauvin, created a conflict of interest that calls into question the validity of the Morgentaler decision.
Phil Horgan, a member of Chauvin’s legal team, today told LifeSiteNews.com that the Attorney General’s office has filed a motion to quash Chauvin’s application on a number of grounds, including mootness (i.e. the fact that Morgentaler has already received the award) and confidentiality. The attorney general is also arguing that there is no precedent for allowing a judicial review of the decisions of the Order of Canada advisory committee.
Horgan said that in moving to quash Chauvin’s application the attorney general and the Department of Justice were taking an “aggressive position,” adding that “it’s an unusual step that is being taken” that indicates “they do not perceive that the case has merit to proceed.”
Horgan explained, however, that while it is true that a judicial review of an Order of Canada advisory committee decision is unprecedented, Chauvin’s legal team would argue that a similar judicial review has been permitted in the past, albeit with a different award committee. Several years ago the Federal Court of Appeals permitted a judicial review of the deliberations surrounding a particular Cross of Valour award. The court, said Horgan, argued “that if you’ve set up a process for reviewing and awarding these awards, that process can be judicially reviewed.” The same, said Horgan, should apply to the Order of Canada committee’s process.
Mr. Chauvin’s lead lawyer, Gerard Charette, told LifeSiteNews that in his view the attorney general is “wrong” to attempt to put the kibosh on Chauvin’s application, and said “we don’t think that they’ll be successful.”
Charette emphasized that Chauvin is determined to see the case through the end, and that the advisory council should be made to answer for the Morgentaler decision. “The granting of the award has not found validity in the eyes of Canadians,” said Charette. “We think the council ought to be made accountable for what it did and how it operated.
“Frank is a determined guy. He’s not about to roll over. He is not going to be cowed into having the decision forced upon Canadians that is, in many ways, contrary to what the Order stands for.”
“It’s an uphill battle,” concluded Charette “but it’s a fight worth fighting. It’s a fight that pro-life Canadians ought to find worthwhile in supporting.”
In an op-ed piece published in October, Chauvin said that the Morgentaler decision “crosses the line” and that “even a governor general has to account for her actions. This is even truer for an advisory council.”
The governor general and the advisory council, said Chauvin, “are hoping that many Canadians will just roll over and accept the appointment. I can’t allow that to happen.”
A poll commissioned by Campaign Life Coalition this past summer with 13,324 respondents found that 56% of Canadians were opposed to the granting of the award to Morgentaler, making the abortionist by far the most divisive nominee in the history of the Order.
Horgan today observed that there is an “awkward irony” in Chauvin’s case, in that the former detective was awarded the Order of Canada for having established orphanages, particularly for orphaned girls. Now, says Horgan, “he’s challenging a decision of the committee to appoint a baby-killer to the Order of Canada. There’s sort of an awkward irony in that regard.”
A hearing to review Chauvin’s application was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but has now been moved to Jan. 8.
This is the third time that the pro-life Attorney General has been used by the Harper Tories to sink efforts supported by the pro-life community and many other Canadians. On August 25 of this year Nicholson announced government legislation that would have in effect killed the Unborn Victims of Crime Act, a private members bill with wide public and legislative support that would have recognized in law the separate life of unborn children.
Last May Nicholson’s Justice Department also shocked Canadians by submitting to the Justice Committee a 50-page defense of widely criticized subsection 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act. MP Keith Martin, whose motion M-446 called for the removal of 13(1) from the Act, responded, “The Justice Department’s missive really was a trampling of basic human rights, human rights that are enshrined in our Charter and I was very disturbed by their intervention.”
To support Chauvin’s attempt to challenge the Morgentaler decision, contributions may be sent to:
Gerard P. Charette
Professional Law Corporation
In Trust
401 Ouellette Ave.
P.O Box 1222 Windsor ON
N9A 6P4
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Judicial Council Dismisses Complaint against Chief Justice over Morgentaler Award https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08100203.html
See the Special LifeSiteNews Order of Canada Controversy web page
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008_docs/Morgentalerorder.html