Trust: the Bottom Line

In Canada, we have this wonderful document called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms to all Canadians, regardless of race, age or sex. Over time, it has become the best recourse for minorities who feel unfairly treated by either public or private institutions. These minorities can count on a sound and impartial interpretation of the Charter, because that task falls to the courts, which are comprised of highly qualified judges, selected on the basis of merit.

Sometimes, the verdicts are surprising and controversial, to say the least, but they are always accepted by the Canadian public because it feels confident that the charter is properly and impartially interpreted.

Now, imagine what would happen if ordinary Canadians with no background in law started picking the judges, in other words, imagine what would happen if judges were elected.

One doesn’t have to look any further than the US for an answer: Judges (who might not even be fully qualified) would go on expensive election campaigns, make bold promises (which would often be in contradiction with the law itself) to their electorate and often end up breaking them. Hey, doesn’t that look like a familiar job description. Yes, it’s the job description of a politician!

Now here’s my question: Do most Canadians trust politicians? NO

As a matter of fact, a CTV poll showed that only 14 percent of Canadians trusted politicians. Contrast that with judges, who are trusted by 78 percent of Canadians.

This trust of judges usually means that even their most controversial decisions are accepted, thus keeping the justice system fair, and effective. Now imagine if only 14 percent of Canadians trusted judges. Would controversial verdicts still be accepted and enforced, and if not, would the judges still have the guts to make them?

We all know that if judges were elected, there would no doubt be some abuse of the justice system by the electorate, and the position would also become financially restrictive as they would be required to go on expensive campaigns. But some people would still prefer to those “drawbacks” to a system of unelected and thus unaccountable judges. The issue of trust however, is more than a drawback.

If the courts are not trusted by the public, their decisions will not always be accepted by most Canadians, which will lead to a loss of credibility and thus of power to enforce decisions. But a fair and strong court is both the foundation of a proper democracy and of a just society. If judges were to lose our trust and thus the power to enforce their decisions, like in developing countries, we would be opening the door to all sorts of corruption and terrible abuse.