David Duncan Smith is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

. Smith is Chief Justice of the

Court of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

for the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. He was appointed Chief Justice in April 1998 after serving as a judge of the

Family Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

since May 1993.

Biography

A graduate of

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

with a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

and the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

with an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

, Chief Justice Smith was called to the New Brunswick Bar in 1971 and appointed

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1985. He is a former member of the New Brunswick Parole Board and has held leadership positions in the New Brunswick branch of the

Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in Canadian French, French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annu ...

, the Moncton

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, the Moncton Airport Board, the

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

and

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

. He is a former director of Canadair Limited and Junior Achievement.

Notable cases

* Smith presided over the 2014 case of

Justin Bourque The Moncton shootings were a string of shootings that took place on June 4, 2014, in Moncton, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Justin Bourque, a 24-year-old Moncton resident, shot five officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ...

Bill 21 and Bill 17

On 5 February 2016, the Liberal government of

Brian Gallant Brian Alexander Gallant (born April 27, 1982) is a Canadian politician who served as the 33rd premier of New Brunswick from October 7, 2014, until November 9, 2018. Of Acadian and Dutch descent, Gallant practised as a lawyer before winning the Li ...

proposed in Bill 21 to curb the Chief Justice's administrative management powers, wherein the Minister of Justice would reserve for the executive arm the geographic placement of Queen's Bench judges. The amendment to the Judicature Act effects that the chief justice cannot designate "a new place of residence" for a judge "without first obtaining the consent" of the justice minister. Smith stated that he was "surprised to learn that the minister of justice had introduced a bill subjecting decisions of the chief justice of the Court of Queen's Bench to his consent without any notice to or consultation with that chief justice." Bill 21 lapsed when Gallant ended the first session of the

58th New Brunswick Legislature The 58th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly was created following a general election in 2014 and dissolved on August 23, 2018 for the new general election. Leadership Lieutenant Governor Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau was installed October 23, 2014. S ...

.cbc.ca: "Chief justice moves 2 judges in wake of Bill 21 failing to pass"
12 Jul 2016 NDP leader

Dominic Cardy Dominic William Cardy (born 25 July 1970) is a Canadian politician and Member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. From the 2018 New Brunswick general election until his expulsion from the caucus in October 2022, Cardy represented th ...

implied during a June interview that the Liberals were "trying to protect a political friend, already sitting as a judge, from being moved by Smith." Smith had made a

Freedom of Information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigeno ...

request earlier in the year; the request forced by law the government to issue on 27 June a description or summary of the documents in question so that both parties could refer to concrete items. The 54-page summary raised more questions, and caused consternation over the speed at which the bill had been drafted: Gallant's office had begun the discussion of the bill on 24 January, less than two weeks prior to its introduction in the legislature on 5 February. On the same day, Gallant transferred authority over the bill to

Stephen Horsman Stephen B. Horsman is a Canadians, Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 2014 New Brunswick general election, 2014 provincial election. He represented the electoral district of Fredericton North ...

, who was then Minister of Justice. Dozens of emails were exchanged between officials "regarding urgency". The Law Society of New Brunswick and the

had taken positions favourable to Smith's cause by 4 July. The changes to the Judicature Act were reintroduced as Bill 17 on 16 November,cbc.ca: "Judge-moving legislation introduced again"
16 Nov 2016 shortly after the new session began with a

Speech from the Throne A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or a representative thereof, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a session is opened, outlining th ...

on 2 November. Also on that date, Smith's Freedom of Information request to obtain documents related to the identity of the drafters of the bill failed. On 16 January 2017 in a speech to the Moncton

, Smith divulged that he had asked the

Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

to challenge the Bill in the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

. The Gallant government, as of January 2017, refused to provide a specific example of a transfer that they found unacceptable or that they would have vetoed. Smith has only made transfers "as a result of a vacancy, and as a result of a request by a judge. There was never a judge moved that hadn't made a request to make that move." It was looking grim for Smith's gambit two months later; the head of the CSCJA noted that the judicial reference procedure is available in Canada only to executive branches of government. On 18 April, the Board of the CSCJA concurred with its head, and stated that Smith's request "is not an appropriate role for the association". Bill 17 passed into law on 5 May 2017.thelawyersdaily.ca: "New Brunswick passes controversial judicial residency bill"
8 May 2017

External links

Biography at Court of Queen's Bench

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, David Year of birth missing (living people) Acadia University alumni University of New Brunswick alumni Lawyers in New Brunswick Judges in New Brunswick Canadian King's Counsel Living people University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law alumni