Canadian Lawyer

8 J u n e 2 0 1 4 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m A formal complaint has been laid against a Happy Valley-Goose Bay judge by the Newfound- land and Labrador Public Prosecutions in the wake of memos he wrote accus- ing the province's legal aid lawyers of breach of duty and unethical behaviour. The furor first erupted when Judge John Joy wrote a 10-page memo com- plaining there was only one duty counsel in court and two were needed. Nicho- las Summers, provincial director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Legal Aid Commission, met with Joy to discuss the issue. "We parted on good terms," Summers told Canadian Lawyer in an interview. The collegiality was short lived. In late February, Joy became impatient with the pace of proceedings and in public court lambasted the legal aid lawyer on duty. "He accused him of being unethical while acknowledging he was only doing his job," says Summers. An 11-page memo followed the in- court outburst in which Joy contended neither the legal aid commission nor the Crown attorney's office were allowing lawyers to do their jobs properly and thereby placing them in breach of their duties. "We've never told our lawyers to breach their ethics," says Summers. "He's upset because it takes too long to get cases through the courts. There are a lot of reasons for that." One of those reasons is the difficulty in getting lawyers to work in the north, a problem Joy has only exacerbated, says Summers. "It's very hard to retain good staff in Labrador. It will be even harder if they're afraid they are going to have a strip taken off them." Summers is also concerned the public putdown by a member of the judiciary will further tarnish the reputation legal aid has among the public. "It's a constant battle to get the public to see that legal aid lawyers are not second rate," he says. Legal aid's provincial director notes 80 per cent of all criminal and 50 per cent of all family trials in the province are conducted with legal aid lawyers. "We're damn good," says Summers. He acknowledges some of the issues raised by Joy in his combined missive, including delays in Child Youth and Family Service hearings, are credible. In a brief statement released by the com- mission following Joy's public dressing down, the commission noted, "In some respects Judge Joy has given a 'wake-up call.' The problems are systemic; they have been known for decades and the necessary resources and funding have never been put in place. Justice in Labra- dor is in a state of crisis and has been for far too long. It is likely to worsen if some- thing is not done about it very soon." However, Joy's response to the state of crisis is not going to help address the issues, notes Summers. "He has gone about it the wrong way. We have no more control over the problems than he does." Summers also feels as a member of the judiciary Joy must adhere to a higher standard than venting his frustration in open court. "You have great power as a judge, but you also have great responsibility to use that power wisely." — DM RegionAl wRAp-up Central RESISTANCE IS FUTILE T he April 7 provincial election concluded one of the most bit- terly fought campaigns in the history of Québec. Opposing party leaders and star candidates lunged at each other's throats like never before. One would think it would have been even worse if the adversaries were law- yers, but to the contrary, Liberal candi- date Gilles Ouimet and Parti Québécois candidate and (now ex) justice minis- ter Bertrand St-Arnaud, both criminal lawyers, offered quite a contrast during a debate sponsored by the Barreau du Québec where partisanship was essen- tially absent. They agreed on almost everything related to problems with the justice system and the measures required to fix it. Access to justice, espe- cially cost, is the perennial concern, they both opined, and should be dealt with, in part, through the integration of information technology. This stance gave the audience a clear view of what would become one of the priorities of the incoming administration. Pascal EliE Formal comPlaint laid aFtEr labrador judgE lambasts lEgal aid lawyEr

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