Editing Supreme Court of Canada (section)

==Canadian judiciary==
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2021}}
The structure of the [[Canadian court system]] is pyramidal, a broad base being formed by the various provincial and territorial courts whose judges are appointed by the provincial or territorial governments. At the next level are the provincial and territorial superior trial courts, where judges are appointed by the federal government. Judgments from the superior courts may be appealed to a still higher level, the provincial or territorial superior courts of appeal.

Several federal courts also exist: the [[Tax Court of Canada|Tax Court]], the [[Federal Court (Canada)|Federal Court]], the [[Federal Court of Appeal (Canada)|Federal Court of Appeal]], and the [[Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada|Court Martial Appeal Court]]. Unlike the provincial superior courts, which exercise inherent or general [[jurisdiction]], the jurisdiction of federal courts and provincially appointed provincial courts are limited by statute. In all, there are over 1,000 federally appointed judges at various levels across Canada.

===Appellate process===
The Supreme Court rests at the apex of the judicial pyramid. This institution hears appeals from the provincial courts of last resort, usually the provincial or territorial courts of appeal, and the Federal Court of Appeal, although in some matters appeals come straight from the trial courts, as in the case of [[publication ban]]s and other orders that are otherwise not appealable.

In most cases, permission to appeal must first be obtained from the court. Motions for [[discretionary review|leave to appeal]] to the court are generally heard by a panel of three of its judges and a simple majority is determinative. By convention, this panel never explains why it grants or refuses leave in any particular case, but the court typically hears cases of national importance or where the case allows it to settle an important issue of law. Leave is rarely granted, meaning that for most litigants, provincial courts of appeal are courts of last resort. But leave to appeal is not required for some cases, primarily indictable criminal cases in which at least one appellate judge (on the relevant provincial court of appeal) dissented on a point of law, and appeals from provincial [[reference case]]s.

A final source of cases is the power of the federal government to submit reference cases. In such cases, the Supreme Court is required to give an opinion on questions referred to it by the Governor in Council (the [[Cabinet of Canada|Cabinet]]). However, in many cases, including the most recent [[Re Same-Sex Marriage|same-sex marriage reference]], the Supreme Court has declined to answer a question from the Cabinet. In that case, the court said it would not decide if [[same-sex marriage]]s were required by the ''Charter of Rights and Freedoms'', because the government had announced it would change the law regardless of its opinion, and subsequently did.

===Constitutional interpretation===
[[File:Supreme Court Judges. Ottawa, Ontario - LAC 4301941.jpg|thumb|The justices of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1961]]
The Supreme Court thus performs a unique function. It can be asked by the Governor-in-Council to hear references considering important questions of law. Such referrals may concern the constitutionality or interpretation of federal or provincial legislation, or the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|division of powers]] between federal and provincial spheres of government. Any point of law may be referred in this manner. However, the Court is not often called upon to hear references. References have been used to re-examine criminal convictions that have concerned the country as in the cases of [[David Milgaard]] and [[Steven Truscott]].

The Supreme Court has the ultimate power of [[judicial review]] over Canadian federal and provincial laws' constitutional validity. If a federal or provincial law has been held contrary to the division of power provisions of one of the various constitution acts, the legislature or parliament must either live with the result, amend the law so that it complies, or obtain an amendment to the constitution. If a law is declared contrary to certain sections of the ''Charter of Rights and Freedoms'', Parliament or the provincial legislatures may make that particular law temporarily valid again against by using the "override power" of the [[Section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|notwithstanding clause]]. In one case, the [[Quebec National Assembly]] invoked this power to override a Supreme Court decision (''[[Ford v Quebec (AG)]]'') that held that one of Quebec's language laws banning the display of English commercial signs was inconsistent with the ''Charter''. Saskatchewan has also used it to uphold its labour laws. This override power can be exercised for five years, after which time the override must be renewed or the decision comes into force.

In some cases, the court may stay the effect of its judgments so that unconstitutional laws continue in force for a period of time. Usually, this is done to give Parliament or a legislature sufficient time to enact a new replacement scheme of legislation. For example, in ''[[Reference Re Manitoba Language Rights]]'', the court struck down Manitoba's laws because they were not enacted in the French language, as required by the Constitution. However, the Court stayed its judgment for five years to give Manitoba time to re-enact all its legislation in French. It turned out five years was insufficient so the court was asked, and agreed, to give more time.

Constitutional questions may, of course, also be raised in the normal case of appeals involving individual litigants, governments, government agencies or [[Crown corporation]]s. In such cases the federal and provincial governments must be notified of any constitutional questions and may [[intervention (law)|intervene]] to submit a [[brief (law)|brief]] and attend [[oral argument]] at the court. Usually the other governments are given the right to argue their case in the court, although on rare occasions this has been curtailed and prevented by order of one of the court's judges.