49 Facts About Michael Moldaver

Michael Moldaver was born on December 23,1947 and is a former Canadian judge.

Michael Moldaver was a puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from his 2011 appointment by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper until his retirement in 2022.

Michael Moldaver was born on December 23,1947, in Peterborough, Ontario.

Michael Moldaver is the youngest of Irving Moldaver and Ruth Moldaver's three sons.

Michael Moldaver's father, Irving, was a Jewish Russian immigrant to Peterborough who worked as a scrap metal dealer; Ruth Michael Moldaver's family ran a clothing store.

Michael Moldaver attended elementary school at Queen Mary Public School and high school at Peterborough Collegiate.

Michael Moldaver recovered and upon his graduation in 1971, was named his graduating year's gold medalist, an award given to the student with the highest academic average.

However, Michael Moldaver's plans changed with the opportunity to finish the last six months of his articles with a leading criminal defence lawyer, Goldwyn Arthur Martin.

Michael Moldaver always wanted to pursue criminal law, as he enjoyed his criminal law classes in law school.

Michael Moldaver stated that the thought of "being able to defend a person charged with murder, who was innocent, and have the real culprit confess after a blistering cross-examination was too much for [him] to resist".

Michael Moldaver had the opportunity to work with Justice Marc Rosenberg, and notable lawyers Eddie Greenspan and Alan Gold.

Michael Moldaver gained a wealth of experience in short time, as he was given the opportunity to work on murder files in his first year.

In 1990, at age 42, Michael Moldaver was appointed to the High Court of Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario.

Michael Moldaver spent five years there before being elevated to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1995.

Michael Moldaver sat on the Court of Appeal for the next 16 years before his eventual appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In 2009, Michael Moldaver wrote the majority decision which acquitted Romeo Phillion of his 1972 murder conviction.

Michael Moldaver ultimately decided to overturn the conviction due to the Crown's failure to disclose a key piece of evidence.

Michael Moldaver held the missing evidence would have been "gold" in the defence lawyer's hands and that there was overwhelming support for the claim the evidence had not been properly disclosed.

Michael Moldaver was formally appointed to the Court on October 21,2011.

Michael Moldaver's nomination raised some concern, due to his prior statements made about criminal defence lawyers and the Charter.

Michael Moldaver has publicly criticised criminal defence lawyers' roles in the growing length of trials.

Michael Moldaver has questioned whether they overcharge, refuse to yield to reasonable defence requests, and push the evidentiary envelope beyond what is needed for a conviction.

Michael Moldaver's nomination received further criticism for his inability to speak French.

However, the Conservative Party advocated for Michael Moldaver, noting he was capable of using the translation services offered in the Court.

Michael Moldaver expressed his respect for the French language and apologized for his inability to speak it; he committed himself to becoming more proficient in the future.

Michael Moldaver was the only member of the Court to be a part of all 75 majority decisions rendered that year.

In 2014, writing for the majority in R v Hart, Michael Moldaver redefined the common law test for the admissibility of confessions obtained through a Mr Big sting operation.

Michael Moldaver held that the confessions will only be admissible if they contain probative value and do not cause an abuse of process.

Michael Moldaver argued that the Court should have shown judicial restraint and upheld Parliament's three-year mandatory minimum sentence for illegal possession of a loaded firearm.

Additionally, Michael Moldaver wrote the lone dissent in Reference Re Supreme Court Act, ss 5 and 6, where he supported Stephen Harper's decision to appoint Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court.

Michael Moldaver disagreed with the majority and wrote a strong dissent.

Michael Moldaver held that police are permitted to use sniffer-dogs to search for drugs and prevent crimes, even in situations where individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy, provided the police have reasonable grounds to suspect that the search will reveal evidence of a criminal offence.

Michael Moldaver emphasized that the police only require a reasonable suspicion that they will find narcotics and not a reasonable probability of finding them.

Michael Moldaver said that to determine whether the threshold has been satisfied, common sense, flexibility and experience must be viewed through the eyes of a reasonable person armed with the knowledge, training and experience of the investigating officer.

In changing the common law test for the admissibility of a confession, Michael Moldaver established a new test.

In order for a confession to be admissible, Michael Moldaver held that the probative value must outweigh the prejudicial effect.

Michael Moldaver expanded this test to protect an accused, by allowing confessions to be admissible only if the accused would not be subject to an abuse of process.

Dissenting, Michael Moldaver held that the mandatory minimum sentencing provisions do not violate section 12 of the Charter.

Michael Moldaver argued that the illegal firearm possession provisions are hybrid offences and therefore only carry the mandatory minimum sentence if the Crown proceeds by indictment, instead of by summary conviction.

Michael Moldaver stated that the nature of the hybrid offence acts a "safety valve", which ensures that the least serious offenders will not face three years in prison.

Therefore, Michael Moldaver argued the focus should be on the constitutionality of the Crown's election to proceed by indictment rather than summarily, not the law itself.

Michael Moldaver concluded that an accused party will not be unjustly punished, based solely on the Crown's election, because if the Crown proceeds improperly and it leads to a "grossly disproportionate" sentence, there are remedies for an accused under section 24 of the Charter.

Michael Moldaver's final sitting day on the Supreme Court was May 19,2022.

Michael Moldaver has maintained an active role within the legal community.

Michael Moldaver has volunteered as a guest judge on final panels for various national law school moot competitions.

Apart from post-secondary education, Michael Moldaver has contributed to continuing legal education programs for lawyers and the judiciary.

Michael Moldaver has frequently taught and spoken at numerous educational programs.

Michael Moldaver is currently married to Rivka Moldaver, ex-wife of Alan Young.

Michael Moldaver has two daughters, Shannon and Jessica, and two grandchildren.