Complaint 6

Some complaints are complex and not easily resolved. In some cases, the member of the Judicial Conduct Committee who reviews the file will send it to a Panel of three or five judges. This allows for a more complete review.

A complainant wrote to say that a judge used his status as a judge to influence officials to act against the complainant. The complaint involved a personal matter between the judge, the complainant and the complainant's ex-wife. The judge had become engaged to the complainant's ex-wife. On two occasions, the judge accompanied his fiancee when she went to the police to complain about her ex-husband. She said her ex-husband was threatening her and she asked that criminal charges be filed against him. During the police interviews, the judge made some inappropriate jokes.

The complainant also said that the judge tried to influence court proceedings about child custody between the complainant and his ex-wife.

Five judges reviewed the matter. Because of the seriousness of the allegations, a lawyer was asked to interview several people, including the complainant, his ex-wife, the police officers, the judge and several others.

The Panel found that there was no evidence that the judge attempted to influence court proceedings. However, the Panel was concerned that the judge was present when his fiancée went to complain to the police. An outside person could think that the judge was there to seek a certain outcome. Humorous comments can be misinterpreted. The Panel was of the view that any comments made during such a meeting, whether spoken seriously or in humour, can be easily misinterpreted. In that regard, the Panel said that judges should avoid such situations.

However, the Panel noted that the judge wanted to provide emotional support to his fiancée, and that he never intended to influence in any way the police officers.

This complaint took much time to complete. This was because of the need to get all the relevant information from many different individuals. While Council tries to complete all matters within six months, there are usually 5 or 6 cases every year that can take more time. In all instances, every effort is made to complete the review of complaints as soon as possible. // NEXT