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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2001

OTTAWA -The Canadian Bar Association says Canadians shouldn't reach hasty conclusions about the judiciary based on ill-considered attacks made on the spur of the moment. The national Canadian Bar Association and CBA-Quebec warned that politicians should guard against unfair assertions about political bias or conflict of interest by the judiciary. The CBA was responding to the questions Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day raised on Monday concerning the impartiality of Quebec Superior Court Judge Joel Silcoff.

CBA President Daphne Dumont Q.C. of Charlottetown says, "Trial by innuendo has no place in this country. Hasty and misinformed attacks on the judiciary needlessly erode public confidence in Canadian democratic institutions. Our judges are entitled to respect and to the benefit of the doubt. Judges are highly sensitive to potential conflicts of interests and are quick to withdraw where they are aware of conflicts."

The CBA President says that public figures who jump to accuse a judge of impropriety denigrate our institutions. "Any Canadian can file a complaint with the Canadian Judicial Council if he or she believes that there are grounds to conclude that a judge has acted improperly. The Council has the appropriate process to deal with such issues and there is no place in our society for trial through the media."

"The public has a right to know what is happening in the courts and to comment on it," says Daphne Dumont. "From time to time, judges are obliged to refuse to hear cases where they have a connection with one of the parties. The situation may or may not create an actual bias. It may or may not create an appearance of bias. The facts have to be considered carefully. Where a judge has been associated in the past with a law firm that once acted for a party to a lawsuit, even where the judge has had no contact with the party and does not know the party, there could be an appearance of bias, but not necessarily. It is always a question of remoteness and what is fair and reasonable."

"It may be fair to probe whether there is an appearance of bias, but a responsible individual will first examine all the facts before publicly stating any such conclusion. Judges must be protected from entanglement in political wars and intimidation," she said.

"Unfair comment though, weakens confidence in the justice system," says Ms Dumont, "and Canadians must protect it. Our judicial system is one of the most respected in the world."

The Canadian Bar Association, the voice of the legal profession, is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, notaries, judges, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.

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CONTACT: Stephen Hanson, Canadian Bar Association, 500 - 865 Carling Ave. , Ottawa, ON, K1S 5S8 Tel: 1-800-267-8860, ext. 147; E-mail: hansons@cba.org.