Evidence of meeting #107 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was complaints.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Marilyn King  Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

11:40 a.m.

Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

Marilyn King

It's actually very analogous. I would say there are really two key differences.

The Judicial Council has one more level of review, so it has a level of review that does the investigation and it reports to a middle level of review that has four members of that council on it. Then, if it's ordered to a hearing, it goes to the third level of review. Again every level—investigation, review panel in between, and the public hearing—all have members of the public, a different member of the public at each level.

The other difference is that the Judicial Council does not have available to it the dispositions of advice in person or in writing, and that is a remedy that has been used by the review council but that's not available to the judges.

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL

Okay.

It seems, then, that your office is able to carry both of those.

I just want to see how good an analogy the financials might be when we get them. How many judicial appointments are there in Ontario? How many people would be subject—

11:40 a.m.

Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

Marilyn King

I'm just going to refer to the annual report for that year.

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL

Perfect.

11:40 a.m.

Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

Marilyn King

I think it's pretty similar.

In 2016, for example, there were approximately 498 justices of the peace on the bench, and there would probably be a similar number—under 400 but more than 300—judges on the bench, so there would be 300 to 400 of each category.

11:40 a.m.

Liberal

Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL

Fair enough.

When we had Mr. Aterman before us earlier in the week, we were trying to get a sense of what type of conduct should come before the disciplinary panel. Typically, it's just matters related to code of conduct that would be addressed, not issues related to knowledge of the law because they would be subject to appeal. If justices of the peace had demonstrated over a period of time that all of their decisions were being overturned, or they just didn't have the law right, or their competence was beginning to suffer, would that be something that would come before your body as well?

11:40 a.m.

Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

Marilyn King

There was a complaint—although it didn't go through to a hearing because the justice of the peace fully retired, and if they leave office we lose jurisdiction—that did come forward to the start of a public hearing and it was an allegation of incompetence as a result of a pattern of incompetence over a period of time: not knowing the law and misapplying the law. Yes, we have seen that, but it didn't go through all the way.

In a hearing that was fairly recent—a disposition is pending on it right now—the judicial officer made a decision to issue an information for a criminal charge and a decision to sign off on a subpoena, and the hearing panel found that, although those were judicial decisions, the surrounding circumstances were a cause for concern and shifted it into the realm of judicial misconduct. There is case law that says just because it's decision-making doesn't mean it's excluded from misconduct.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL

Fantastic.

When I try to look at the charts in the 2015 annual report, it says 12 were out of jurisdiction and zero were loss of jurisdiction. Those “out of jurisdiction” would be like retirements. Would “loss of jurisdiction” be when the chief justice refers something as a criminal matter and has it dealt with elsewhere?

11:45 a.m.

Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

Marilyn King

“Out of jurisdiction” would probably mean that it's strictly decision-based. There's no conduct involved in it.

“Loss of jurisdiction” would mean that the individual fully retired and is gone, or died.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL

Would it be possible, if there's some type of sexual misconduct alleged against a judge and it goes to criminal proceedings, separate and apart from this, that both processes would still continue? This would have to be resolved as well as whatever criminal charges there are.

April 26th, 2018 / 11:45 a.m.

Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

Marilyn King

That's right.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL

This process would not be halted.

11:45 a.m.

Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

Marilyn King

It depends on what the evidence is, but this process would not be prevented because of that. That's correct.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL

Thank you very much.

I'll get another opportunity to ask some questions about how you feed into training later.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant

No, I think that's the end, actually.

The notice of meeting said until 11:45.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

Nick Whalen Liberal St. John's East, NL

I was told I would have more.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant

We might have.

We want to thank you for your help with our work. The committee is now going to move to an in camera business meeting. Thank you for taking the time with us.

11:45 a.m.

Registrar, Justices of the Peace Review Council

Marilyn King

You're welcome. Thank you very much for your interest in the council. I really appreciate it. It's the council who actually sent me.

11:45 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant

We'll suspend for a few moments and take a stretch as we move into an in camera meeting.

[Proceedings continue in camera]