Michael Moldaver

Education and early career

Moldaver was born on December 23, 1947 in Peterborough, Ontario, where his father was a scrap dealer and his maternal grandfather was the city's first rabbi. Justice Moldaver earned a B.A. from the University of Toronto, before completing his legal training at the school's Faculty of Law, where he graduated in 1971 as a Gold Medalist. He articled for Goldwyn Arthur Martin, a leading criminal defence lawyer.

He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1973. While in practice, he specialized in criminal law and at one time partnered with Edward Greenspan.

Judicial Career

Justice Moldver was appointed to the High Court of Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario (now known as the Superior Court of Justice) in 1990, and was subsequently elevated to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1995. While at the Court of Appeal, Moldaver was known as one of its most outspoken members and was considered an expert on criminal law. While on the Ontairo Court of Appeal, he complained that sometimes criminal defence lawyers would “trivialize” the Charter of Rights and Freedoms out of monetary self-interest by arguing for unnecessary rights claims.

On October 17, 2011, he was nominated by Stephen Harper, along with fellow Ontario Court of Appeal judge Andromache Karakatsanis to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In 2013, Moldaver gave the majority 4-3 ruling in R v Mackenzie, arguing that every single police move should not be “placed under a scanning electron-microscope” to uphold a police search and seizure action. In the 6-3 ruling in the 2015 case of R v Nur, he wrote the dissent, arguing that the court should have upheld the three-year mandatory minimum sentence for illegal gun possession to avoid judicial activism. Moldaver also wrote the lone dissent in Reference re Supreme Court Act, 2014, supporting Stephen Harper's decision to appoint Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court.

Appointment Controversy

Justice Moldaver's nomination and eventual appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada was not without controversy.

Justice Moldaver’s nomination raised some concern amongst lawyers, due to his prior statements made about criminal defence lawyers and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Justice Moldaver has been publically critical of criminal defence lawyers' roles in the growing length of trials. In a series of speeches, Moldaver stated that criminal lawyers have demeaned the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, by bringing baseless Charter claims as a means to challenge evidence. In his address to the Criminal Lawyers Association in 2005, Justice Moldaver stated that the criminal lawyer who continues to “throw up a medley of Charter issues in the hopes that one or two might stick” should realize “those days are gone.” In expressing his disapproval with counsel who clog the justice system by bring baseless Charter claims, he suggested that he wants to see changes which will “simplify the criminal law, and in the process, restore the public’s faith and confidence in our criminal justice system.”   

Justice Moldaver’s potential appointment received further criticism for his inability to speak French. Both the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party expressed their concerns over his lack of French proficiency and claimed that they would not support his nomination. The Quebec Bar Association expressed concerns that his appointment would deny Francophones equality before the bar and is a step backwards because his predecessor – Justice Louise Charron – was bilingual. However, the Conservative Party advocated that Justice Moldaver is capable of using the translation services offered in the Court. Interim Liberal Party leader Bob Rae also suggested that it should not be assumed someone cannot learn French. Justice Moldaver expressed his respect for the French language and apologised for his inability to speak French. He committed himself to becoming more proficient in the future years.  

Personal life

Married four times, Justice Moldaver has two daughters.