August 20,2025
RED FM News Desk
An independent panel is urging Ottawa to increase the salaries of the 1,200 federal court judges by $28,000 to $36,000 annually, saying the raise is necessary to attract top private-sector lawyers to judicial appointments. In a newly released report, the commission stated that current salaries and benefits are insufficient.
The commission’s recommendations align partially with judges’ previous requests for a $60,000 increase to their base pay, though the federal government has opposed such a raise, citing budget deficits and economic uncertainty.
Under the proposal, most federal judges’ base salary would rise from $396,700 to $424,700, while chief justices would see their pay increase from $435,000 to $465,700. At the Supreme Court, the chief justice’s salary would go from $510,000 to $546,000, and the other eight justices would receive a $33,000 boost, bringing their annual pay to $505,700. These increases would be in addition to annual cost-of-living adjustments.
The commission argued that the raise is needed to keep the country’s top lawyers interested in judicial service, noting that senior private-sector lawyers eligible for such positions often earn more than $700,000 annually. The federal government has rejected this rationale, saying that salary levels have not hindered recruitment and pointing out that judges also receive a generous pension plan valued at roughly $100,000 annually.
Former Quebec Court of Appeal judge Pierre Dalphond warned that ignoring the commission’s recommendations could lead to legal challenges in Federal Court. In a joint submission, the Canadian Judicial Council and the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association highlighted a roughly $300,000 gap between judges’ salaries and those of comparable private-sector lawyers.
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