FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ontario Judge Whitewashes Colleague’s Conflict of Interest
OTTAWA, December 4, 2012 – In a ruling that rewrites the law for disqualifying judges for apprehension of bias, a judge of the Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa has cleared his colleague of an allegation of conflict of interest.
Justice Robert Beaudoin did nothing wrong by hearing a case involving the University of Ottawa even though he has a financial agreement with the university and has family connections with the law firm representing the university. That is the conclusion of the decision released by Justice Annis last week.
The University of Ottawa is an intervener and sponsors the plaintiff’s legal costs in the private defamation suit (St. Lewis v. Rancourt) that Justice Beaudoin heard earlier this year. It was discovered only later that Justice Beaudoin created a scholarship in memory of his late son at the University of Ottawa and that Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG), which represents the university, named a boardroom in honour of the judge’s son, who was a lawyer with the firm until his death.
Justice Annis, who is himself a former partner of BLG and former part-time professor at the University of Ottawa, ruled that there could be no reasonable doubt about Justice Beaudoin’s appearance of impartiality in deciding if the university is improperly funding the plaintiff’s legal fees by using public funds.
The ruling abandons the tradition of handling appearances of judicial bias with a high degree of caution and raises serious concerns about the integrity of Ontario’s judicial system. It comes one week after Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford, was removed from office by judicial order over a conflict of interest from which he received no direct benefit.
Allan Rock, former Canadian Minister of Justice and current President of the University of Ottawa, approved unlimited funding for the plaintiff’s legal fees in the private defamation suit. The defendant’s motion to dismiss the case on the basis of improper funding by the university is scheduled to be heard on Dec. 13, 2012.
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Contact:
Joseph Hickey
Executive Director
Ontario Civil Liberties Association (OCLA) www.ocla.ca
joseph.hickey@ocla.ca
