Justice Minister Peter MacKay defended remarks he made in a speech to the Ontario Bar Association last week in which he reportedly said the reason there are fewer women on federal benches is because they aren’t applying. Instead, he said, women are choosing to stay at home with their children.

Arleen Huggins, president of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, told CTV’s Power Play Thursday that she was surprised and “very much concerned” by the response she got from the justice minister after asking him at the meeting of lawyers in Toronto what initiatives the federal government was taking to increase the diversity of federal judicial appointments.

“His comments, to say the least, were quite surprising to many of us in the room and basically commenced with a suggestion that minorities and women were not applying to the bench, and his explanation for why women were likely not applying for positions, as he believed, was that they had a bond between themselves and their young children, and were fearful that as he called it, the old boys network would send them off to circuit courts.”

Speaking with reporters Thursday, MacKay defended his comments, saying there is “no question” that women have a greater bond with their children at early childhood.

Huggins said MacKay “seems to not be cognizant of the issues in respect to judicial representation of minorities and women on the bench.”

In addition, Huggins said she was in disbelief that the justice minister “would believe that women that have been practicing as lawyers for a lengthy time by the time they apply, would not be applying because of the challenges of motherhood, which quite frankly, are the challenges they already experience as lawyers.”

“And obviously, raising children is not unique to being a mother, as opposed to a father,” Huggins added.

News of the speech generated a negative reaction on Twitter.

#AsAParent, I don't want the Justice Minister using 1950s excuses for why there aren't enough women being appointed to the federal courts. — Kevin Bosch (@kevinjbosch) June 19, 2014

#petermackay #asaparent Mr MacKay do yourself a favor and just stop it. Your giving us all a bad rep. As a stayathome dad. Thanks bonehead. — Dokisdoc (@dokisdoc) June 19, 2014

#AsAParent I want to live in a country where the Justice Minister doesn't defend his own government's Glass Ceiling #cdnpoli #ABC2015 #CPC — Nickie (@MuskokaMoneybag) June 19, 2014

@MinPeterMacKay #AsAParent and mother of a daughter I find your excuse for lack of diversity in courts insulting and pathetic — erika wybourn (@erikawybourn) June 19, 2014

#asaparent I'm surprised mothers leave the house at all. Such a bond with their children. Unless they're going out to get weed. — Monica Rooney (@monicarooney) June 19, 2014

Jasminka Kalajdzic, a Windsor law professor also tweeted at MacKay, saying half of law schools are comprised of smart, hardworking women.

“We’ve played our role,” Kalajdzic said. “Now you play yours.”

‘Ward and June Cleaver are dead’: Liberals

In question period Thursday, Toronto Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland called on MacKay to apologize for his “blatant chauvinism.”

“As one of the many mothers of young children in this House, I wonder if the minister believes that we too, should be intimidated by the old boys’ network? Does he think that we too, should stay at home because of our special maternal bond with our young children?

MacKay did not apologize, but instead rose to say that it was a “complete mischaracterization” of his words.

“With respect to judicial appointments, they’re based on one criteria and one criteria only: merit and judicial excellence,” MacKay said. “With respect to minorities and women being promoted to the judiciary, I think we can all agree that the government plays an important role in that, but so too, do law schools, so too, do law societies and that is exactly the message I was bringing to the Ontario Bar Association.”

MacKay also said the Conservatives are encouraging more women to apply to judicial roles. “We’re going to continue to appoint women to the bench because they deserve to be there.”

But his remarks didn’t silence other opposition MPs, who called the justice minister a throwback to a bygone era.

Calling MacKay’s comments the “latest salvo” on the Conservatives’ “war” on modernity, Liberal MP Scott Brison said they also reflect the Conservatives’ “Archie Bunker-inspired policies” on early learning child care and income-splitting.

“When will this government realize that Ward and June Cleaver are dead, and when will they stop trying to drag Canada back to the 1950s?” Brison said.

NDP MP Megan Leslie asked the Conservatives why they don’t encourage gender parity on the bench instead of “spewing nonsense.”

“The minister doubled-down on his comments saying that women have a greater bond with their children,” Leslie said. “Well, women have babies, this isn’t news. What is news, is the minister’s disrespectful attitude, and his government’s failure to accept responsibility for the appointment of women and minorities to the courts.”

Conservative MP Kellie Leitch appeared to come to her government’s defence in question period, saying since the Tories took power, the number of women in public appointments has only risen.

As of June 1, 24 of the 81 federally appointed judges in Canada were women, which puts their representation at nearly 30 per cent.

Questions over judicial selection

On Power Play, Huggins said MacKay failed to adequately address questions over the federal judicial appointment process itself, including who is applying for the bench, and what level they reach in the selection process.

“There is no evidence that the slate that they put before the government is even chosen from, so the government has no obligation, and has not committed to an obligation, to even choose from the slate of candidates that their own judicial advisory committee recommends to them. So that’s a big problem.”

Huggins also said there is “no justification” for MacKay’s comment that minorities and women are not applying.

“We are understand they are applying,” she said.

With files from The Canadian Press