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''Black v Chrétien'' (2001)
is the name of a legal dispute between businessman
Conrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-born British former newspaper publisher, businessman, and writer.
His father was businessman George Montegu Black II, who had significant holdings in Canadi ...
and Canadian Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.
Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...
over Chrétien's ability to prevent Black, a dual British-Canadian citizen, from obtaining a peerage in the British
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. The
Court of Appeal for Ontario
The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...
ruled in favour of Chrétien, and Black renounced his Canadian citizenship.
Chrétien's arguments
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
was, as
Queen of the United Kingdom
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...
acting on the
advice
Advice (noun) or advise (verb) may refer to:
* Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct
* Advice (constitutional law) a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder
* Advice (p ...
of
British Prime Minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, to honour Black by raising him to the
peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks.
Peerages include:
Australia
* Australian peers
Belgium
* Belgi ...
. However, the
Canadian Prime Minister
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...
,
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.
Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...
, gave the conflicting advice on behalf of Canada to the Queen that the Canadian government's position was that a Canadian citizen should not receive such a titular honour,
citing the non-binding 1919
Nickle Resolution The Canadian titles debate originated with the presentation to the House of Commons of Canada of the Nickle Resolution in 1917. This resolution marked the earliest attempt to establish a Government of Canada policy requesting the sovereign, in the ...
. Chrétien held that, despite the British government honouring Black as a British citizen, and Black's holding dual citizenship of Canada and Britain (allowed since 1977), the government of Canada had the right to make known the government's stance relating to elevating Black to the British peerage as he was also a Canadian citizen.
In similar cases, Welsh-born computer entrepreneur Sir
Terry Matthews
Sir Terence Hedley Matthews (born 6 June 1943) is a Welsh-Canadian business magnate, serial high-tech entrepreneur, and Wales' first billionaire. He was the richest man in Wales until 2012, when he was surpassed by Sir Michael Moritz.
He h ...
and Winnipeg-born Sir
George Sayers Bain, head of
Queen's University in Belfast, both Canadian citizens but British residents, were honoured with knighthoods. Jean Chrétien and
Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley
John Paul Manley (born January 5, 1950) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the eighth deputy prime minister of Canada from 2002 to 2003. He served as Liberal Member of Parliament for Ottawa South from 1988 to ...
sent diplomatic protests to London against the British government's interference in Canadian affairs.
Chrétien was quoted by a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
report as saying
Black's arguments
Black said he would accept the peerage as a British citizen instead, but Chrétien held firm to his ministerial advice. Black then argued that this strict interpretation of the Nickle Resolution was payback for his political opinions and past criticism of Chrétien, and sued the prime minister unsuccessfully.
Black's supporters argued that Canada did not object to the granting of honours to dual citizens such as Ontario native Sir
Bryant Godman Irvine who was knighted in 1986. So too was a prominent Quebecker, the British and Canadian industrialist, Sir
Neil McGowan Shaw (born 1929) in 1994. Finally, former prime minister
Pierre Trudeau's own personal expert on Canadian symbols, Sir
Conrad Swan
Sir Conrad Marshall John Fisher Swan (13 May 1924–10 January 2019) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Having been first appointed to work at the College in 1962, he rose to the office of Garter Principal King ...
, was knighted by the Queen when he was serving in the
Royal Household as
Garter Principal King of Arms (1992–1995), the chief heraldic officer at London's
College of Arms
The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...
.
The British government disagreed on the grounds that it was honouring its own citizens who only happened to be Canadians as well. It held that it was inappropriate for the Prime Minister of Canada to advise the Queen of the United Kingdom, just as it would have been inappropriate for the British Prime Minister to advise the Queen of Canada on Canadian domestic affairs.
Court decision
The court concluded that the prime minister had a constitutional right to advise the Queen of Canada on exercising her
royal prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...
. However, in this case, the prime minister's advice was to a "foreign head of state", and subsequently Elizabeth II did not receive the Prime Minister's "advice in her capacity as Queen of Canada; rather he was advising the Queen as a foreign head of state in her capacity as the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as to Canada's policy regarding the conferral of foreign honours on its citizens, an act he could have done for ''any'' foreign head of state".
In short, the prime minister was simply informing a foreign state of Canada's policy regarding the granting of honours to its citizens, an act which the court found that he had the legal privilege to do.
Aftermath of the affair
In 2001, Black renounced his citizenship of Canada, which he then called "an oppressive little world".
Eric Reguly
Eric Reguly is a Canadian newspaper columnist. He is the European bureau chief for ''The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approxim ...
wrote in ''The Times'': "The great man fled his native Canada for Britain. He couldn't wait to leave, he said, because Canada was turning into a Third World dump run by raving socialists." Black's lawyer,
Eddie Greenspan
Edward Leonard Greenspan, (February 28, 1944December 24, 2014) was one of Canada's most famous defence lawyers, and a prolific author of legal volumes. His fame was owed to numerous high-profile clients and to his national exposure on the Canadia ...
, later stated Black's citizenship "was stolen from him" by "spiteful" former prime minister Jean Chrétien.
Black was granted a life peerage as
Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
Black of Crossharbour, in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...
. Lord Black sat as a member of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
until July 13, 2007, when he was denied the whip (effectively, expulsion from the Conservative benches) because of his
conviction on fraud charges. On May 15, 2019, he was granted a full
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
by President Donald Trump.
In September 2006, ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' reported Black was taking steps to regain Canadian
citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
. He may have desired this to qualify for prisoner exchange and benefit from Canadian early release policies or to enable him to cross the border following a conviction. In a
TVOntario
TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...
interview, Black claimed, "I always said that I would take my citizenship back, and if it wasn't for all these legal problems, I would have done it by now." He told interviewer
Steve Paikin that he was working through "normal channels". Black also said, "I have settled into my new life as freedom fighter. It's very interesting, it's quite stimulating in a way, but it is an ordeal."
Even without Canadian citizenship, Black continued to be a member of the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The 's Privy Council for Canada (french: Conseil privé du Roi pour le Canada),) during the reign of a queen. sometimes called Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal consultants to the ...
, to which he was appointed by
Governor General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
Ray Hnatyshyn
Ramon John Hnatyshyn ( ; uk, Роман Іванович Гнатишин, Roman Ivanovych Hnatyshyn, ; March 16, 1934December 18, 2002) was a Canadian lawyer and statesman who served as governor general of Canada, the 24th since Canadian Co ...
, on the advice of Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...
, in 1992. The appointment was strictly honorific, as the Privy Council has no substantive power and meets very rarely. In fact, the council last formally met in 1981, so Black never actually attended a Privy Council meeting. In 2014 Conrad Black was once again living in Canada; however, the Governor General accepted the advice of the Order of Canada Advisory Committee and the Prime Minister to remove Black from both the Order of Canada and the Privy Council.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black v Chretien
Canadian civil procedure case law
Canadian administrative case law
2001 in Canadian case law
Royal prerogative
Court of Appeal for Ontario cases
2001 in Ontario
Jean Chrétien