High Commission of India

Ottawa 

Press Release

A high-level judicial delegation from India led by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, Mr. Justice Dipak Misra, visited Ottawa to participate in the Sixth Indo-Canadian Legal Forum, at the invitation of the Chief Justice of Canada, Hon’ble Beverley McLachlin. The other members of the Indian delegation included Mr. Justice Kurian Joseph, Mr. Justice R.K. Agrawal, Mr. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Mr. P. S. Narasimha, Additional Solicitor General and Mr. Ravindra Maithani, Secretary General of the Supreme Court.

Discussions during the Indo-Canadian Legal Forum focussed on three important subjects: i.) Issues in Canada-India Extradition Proceedings, ii) Environmental Courts in India, and iii) Alternative dispute resolution in India and Canada. During the visit, the Supreme Court of India delegation also met with Legal Staff and Law Clerks for informal discussions, visited the Canadian Parliament and was hosted for a lunch by Hon’ble George J. Furey, Speaker of the Senate. Indian High Commissioner Vikas Swarup also hosted a welcome dinner at India House which was attended by the Leader of the House and Minister for Small Business and Tourism, Ms. Bardish Chagger, several Members of Parliament, Deans of Law from leading Canadian universities and prominent members of the Indo-Canadian community.

India and Canada share a similar legal system and, in the last fifty years, each has independently developed an unwritten Constitutional jurisprudence that bears a striking resemblance to that of the other. There is considerable appreciation in Canada for the landmark rulings and judgements by the Supreme Court of India in recent years which have taken further the concept of public interest litigation.

Ottawa

October 17, 2017