Joint Address (Canada)

Joint Address (Canada)

A joint address is a special procedure of the Canadian parliament, in which members of the House of Commons and Senate sit jointly in the former chamber, which, for the occasion, becomes an auditorium. The Speaker of the House of Commons takes his chair as normal, while to his or her right sits the Speaker of the Senate and members of the commons also take their usual seats with senators and justices of the Supreme Court positioned on the floor of the house, in front of the Clerk's table. Gallery privileges are suspended during a joint address, and access to those areas is strictly limited to invited guests.

Such an event is used most commonly when a visiting dignitary— such as a foreign head of state or head of government— wishes to address the parliament. However, on more rare occasions, the process may also be used to make a formal, binding request of the Canadian monarch; for example, this was part of the process used to amend the Constitution of Canada prior to patriation in 1982.

In extreme circumstances, a joint address may also be used to remove a person previously appointed by the Queen-in-Council— such as a judge or ambassador— if other avenues of doing so have failed. For example, Lester Pearson announced a joint address in 1967 to have Leo Landreville removed from the Supreme Court of Ontario bench due to allegations of improper stock trading in the Northern Ontario Natural Gas scandal. Landreville had previously refused to resign as he had not actually been convicted of a crime, but resigned voluntarily after the government declared its intention to forcibly remove him from office.