A Canadian Judicial Council panel is holding a hearing in Calgary on whether Robin Camp should be removed from the bench after making inappropriate remarks when he was an Alberta court judge overseeing a sex-assault trial. Here are some other cases the council has considered:
1996: Justice Jean Bienvenue of the Superior Court of Quebec resigned after an inquiry panel recommended his removal from the bench. Bienvenue was found to have had “an aggravating lack of sensitivity” after remarking during a trial that women could “sink to depths to which even the vilest man could not sink” and saying Jews who died in Nazi gas chambers did not suffer.
2003: Justice Bernard Flynn of the Superior Court of Quebec was found to have made “inappropriate and unacceptable” public comments to a reporter about a property sale that involved his wife. A panel concluded he should have refrained from speaking “in keeping with his duty to act in a reserved manner.” But it ruled the comments did not warrant removing Flynn from the bench.
Watch below: Global’s ongoing coverage of the inquiry into Robin Camp’s remarks
2003: Justice Jean-Guy Boilard of the Superior Court of Quebec was investigated at the request of Quebec’s attorney general after recusing himself from what was already a lengthy and costly Hells Angels trial. Boilard said he had lost the “moral authority” to preside after a letter from the judicial council criticized him for his remarks to a defence lawyer at an unrelated bail hearing. The trial had to start over with a new jury. The inquiry found Boilard was within his rights to recuse himself and said he should not be removed from the bench.
READ MORE: Alberta Justice Robin Camp apologizes at hearing over ‘knees together’ comment
2009: Justice Paul Cosgrove of the Ontario Superior Court resigned after a panel recommended he lose his job for, among other things, abusing his judicial powers and “inappropriate interference with RCMP activities.” Cosgrove had stayed proceedings in a murder trial after ruling that the Crown and police had repeatedly violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — a decision that was overturned and heavily criticized by an Appeal Court.
2014: Justice Lori Douglas of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench announced her resignation, putting an end to a long-delayed inquiry into accusations she sexually harassed a man and failed to disclose the existence of sexually explicit photos of her on the Internet when applying for her job. The inquiry had stalled in 2012 amid procedural wrangling and complaints from her lawyer that the inquiry panel had shown bias against Douglas.
READ MORE: Alberta Justice Robin Camp in ‘knees together’ case admits ‘non-existent’ knowledge of criminal law
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