The Federal Court has rejected a claim that Crown prosecutors have a constitutional right to run for public office. Courts and labour arbitrators have issued mixed rulings on whether the Public Service Employment Act restricts partisan activity by prosecutors.

“There is little to ground the claim,” wrote Justice Lobat Sadrehashemi. Declaring that nonpartisan Crown prosecutors are allowed to run for public office would be “extraordinary,” the judge added.

Noel Sinclair, senior Crown prosecutor in Whitehorse, in 2021 sought leave without pay to run for a seat in the Yukon legislature. The Public Service Commission rejected the request.

Sinclair yesterday would not say which party he sought to represent in his riding, Takhini-Kopper King. The riding was won by New Democrats that year with 63 percent of the popular vote.