Billions of dollars invested, not a penny lost.

EXPERT REPORT

Wish list to improve the
justice system in Ontario

When jointly retaining, crucial everyone stays on the same page

PAGE 10

BILL C-38

Canadian Environmental Assessment Act overhaul

PAGE 14

EVENTS

Planning a firm function has evolved to being simple, yet sophisticated

CRISTIN SCHMITZ OTTAWA

The next deputy attorney general in Ontario will face an outdated court system that cries out to be modernized during a fiscal crunch.

The province is looking for someone to fill the pivotal leadership in the ministry, following the retirement of Murray Segal on May 31. What is certain is that Segal’s successor faces pressing challenges in overseeing the administration of the courts.

The Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General had a $1.44-bil- lion budget in the 2010-2011 fiscal year and nearly a third of that cost, or $409 million, was allocated to its courts services division, according to figures released in the annual public accounts.

Yet, the administration of the courts has come from under fire in recent years from justice participants at every level.

“Ontario is a dinosaur in the
area of technology, and the ration-
ale for failing to keep up with the
times is that the old way is just the
way things were always done—
that mindset must change,” said
Heather Pringle, chair of the crim-
inal practice committee of the
Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
For advice on what they think
needs to be done to improve the
efficiency of the courts, The Law-
yers Weekly contacted practition-
ers, judges, experts and legal
organizations.
The most sweeping suggestion
came from a member of the judi-
ciary: Replace Ontario’s outdated
“executive model” of court admin-
istration with a more nimble and

Lawyer Heather Pringle, outside a Superior Court building in Toronto, says Ontario courts need a technology upgrade.

BRETT GUNDLOCK FOR THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

See Technology Page 5

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

Vol. 22, No. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION December 6, 2002

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002

Barrie judge erred in failing to recuse

PAGE 20

LINDA NGUYEN

The public’s perception of a judge’s impartiality must always be maintained for the administration of justice, even if there is no evidence of a bias or conflict of interest, according to a recent ruling by Ontario’s top court.

In its decision in Bailey v. Bar-
bour, 2012 ONCA 325, the three-
member Court of Appeal panel
found that Justice John McIsaac
erred when he did not recuse
himself from hearing a years-long
land claim centred on property in
the Georgian Bay town of Tiny.

At the start of the 19-day proceeding, which ended in June, 2011, Justice McIsaac informed counsel that his wife was a real estate agent in Tiny and that two of her clients had a connection to the case. The dispute was between two neighbours, Angelina Bailey and Gerald Harry Barbour, over who had claim to a small, narrow access route between their two waterfront properties.

Justice McIsaac’s wife’s clients— two sisters— owned property adjacent to the disputed land, and one of them was an anticipated witness at the trial. He also disclosed that he had prior “understanding” of the land dispute because he and his wife had a cottage property there.

Yet, despite “spirited objections” from Bailey’s lawyer, Justice McIsaac found that his wife’s involvement in the case was only an “attenuated connection” and dismissed the application in brief reasons that said it did not meet the legal test for a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The appeal panel disagreed. It ordered a new trial under a different judge and that Bailey be paid $25,000 for the costs of this appeal, in its decision released May 16.

“Whenever a party takes the position that a reasonable apprehension of bias exists, the judge must weigh the submission carefully and contextually, taking account of all relevant circumstances,” said the decision by Justices Russell Juriansz, Harry

Laforme and Edward Ducharme. “The trial judge did not follow that course in this case. See Bias Page 9

Court of Appeal orders
new trial in Georgian
Bay property dispute

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002

STB_LW_basebar_03_12v2_STG 3/15/12 4: 24 PM Page 1

SCHISM

The changing landscape of the legal profession

PAGE 21

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