Robert J. Bauman is a retired judge who served on two different courts from 1996 to 2023, including, most recently, for 10 years as chief justice of British Columbia.
Through design and plain common sense, Canada’s judiciary isn’t in the habit of drawing attention to itself. On the whole, that’s a good policy; it ensures that decisions speak for themselves and that the law and justice itself are the focus. But it also means that some of the activities of judges don’t get the attention they deserve. One hidden program is Canada’s international judicial outreach – and as I look back on my privileged career, one of my great personal highlights was the role I was able to play as part of this significant effort to share our judicial know-how and our experiences as a strong and independent judiciary with jurisdictions around the world.
For more than a quarter of a century, Canada’s Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs has been working in partnership with the Department of Global Affairs to deliver judicial training initiatives in places like Peru, Jamaica, Mexico and Ghana. Active Canadian trial and appellate judges – in addition to their regular court loads – take the time and effort to promote and practically advance vital judicial reforms in countries that historically have not enjoyed a strong, independent judiciary.
From providing training in judgment writing, to advice on court communications and administration guidelines, this assistance makes a concrete, positive change to the administration of justice in these countries. We’ve also helped break new ground. In Colombia, Canadian judges helped establish an integrated domestic violence court model, a pioneering approach of dedicated courts to reduce the burden on victims and their families that was originally developed in Toronto.
I had the chance to work with judges in Ukraine over the course of a half-dozen trips to that country in the years before the Russian invasion. We worked on judicial leadership training, court communications, judicial independence and anti-corruption in cities with names now all too familiar to Canadians following the war: Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa.
Our approach to the work was, I like to think, typically Canadian: always gently and respectfully persuasive rather than direct and demanding, as in, “Here is how we would do it in Canada – we aren’t perfect but you might find our approach helpful here.” Leading by example, and being constructive, helpful, honest – when Canada is at its best in the world, these are the qualities that define us, and they are what guided our work in Ukraine – and everywhere else we went.
Of course, change never comes quickly or easily. Ukraine’s judiciary today is hardly free from corruption, inefficiencies or a lack of public confidence, as we were reminded in May with the arrest of Ukrainian chief justice Vsevolod Kniaziev on allegations of judicial corruption. In a sense, that arrest is evidence of both how ingrained these problems are, and a determination to deal with them. Moreover, justice and the rule of law, like every truly lasting edifice, must be built patiently and carefully, one solid brick at a time.
I learned as much from my experience in Ukraine as its judges learned from my colleagues and me. I learned about the grit and determination of an entire nation; about the challenges of climbing out from under the dead weight of history; about the enduring poison of the legacy of totalitarianism and the intergenerational trauma it can impose on an entire society. And, perhaps most importantly, I learned about the resilience of the human spirit, even when faced with all of these challenges and setbacks.
I think it helped make me a better judge, and a better Canadian. It made me appreciate what we have here – imperfect as it is – and more committed to preserving and improving it.
I also learned that, just as war is too important to leave to the generals, being a global citizen is too important to leave to the diplomats. Every sector in our country has something to contribute to and learn from others, in all corners of this global village.
These are all lessons I never learned in law school, and never anticipated when I joined the bench. Of course, international judicial outreach was far from my main focus; when your day job is chief justice in a jurisdiction like B.C., it doesn’t even make it into the top 10. That’s why we need judges to volunteer a fraction of their time to this important work. I’m delighted that new initiatives are being planned for Moldova, South Africa and Mongolia, and I hope that my now ex-colleagues will sign up for them – and that Canadians will give them the support and encouragement they deserve.