Law Times

December 14, 2009

The premier weekly newspaper for the legal profession in Ontario

Issue link: https://digital.lawtimesnews.com/i/50548

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 5 of 15

PAGE 6 Think we got reasonable grounds to search him? Well, he DOES look like the guy who's been seen home-invading through chimneys... AND he's got quite a lot of loot! COMMENT Law Times Group Publisher ....... Karen Lorimer Editorial Director ....... Gail J. Cohen Editor .................. Glenn Kauth Associate Editor ..........Tim Shufelt Staff Writer ............. Robert Todd Copy Editor ......... Heather Gardiner CaseLaw Editor ...... Jennifer Wright Art Director .......... Alicia Adamson Production Co-ordinator .. Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist ............. Derek Welford Advertising Sales .... Kimberlee Pascoe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathy Liotta Sales Co-ordinator ......... Sandy Shutt ©Law Times Inc. 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written permission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times Inc. disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Editorial Obiter lawyer Paul Kennedy leaves his post as chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. After finishing his law degree in 1972, Kennedy spent 25 years with the Justice Department that included stints as a criminal prosecutor and later senior general counsel for the federal prosecution service. Then, after rising to become a senior assistant deputy minister with two different ministries, the government appointed him to the RCMP watchdog role in 2005. Since then, Kennedy has established a reputation for pulling no punches against a federal police force that in re- cent years has come to define govern- ment secrecy. He's been particularly forthright about the need for the RCMP to stop investigating itself in cases of serious allegations against its officers, Lawyer leaves public service on a high note A t the end of the year, Canada will lose yet another valuable and outspoken civil servant when an issue the 2005 in-custody death of Ian Bush at a B.C. police detachment helped bring to public attention. This week, we saw Kennedy come out swinging again in his report on the infamous Taser incident involving Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport in 2007. The events that led to the Polish man's death "represent a defining moment in the history of the RCMP," Kennedy said. In what amounts to an official vali- dation of what most people have likely been thinking, Kennedy said police claims about the threat they felt from the stapler Dziekanski was brandishing didn't justify using a Taser on him. "The members demonstrated no meaningful attempt to de-escalate the situation nor did they approach the sit- uation with a measured, co-ordinated, and appropriate response," he wrote in his report. Kennedy, in making his 16 recom- mendations, also criticized the officers involved for inappropriately meeting after the incident before giving their statements. In addition, he deemed that their version of what happened lacked credibility. "Overall, I found that the conduct of the responding members fell short of that expected of members of the RCMP," he concluded. In coming out so strongly in one of his final acts as head of the public complaints commission, Kennedy has demonstrated his value to our federal bureaucracy. But the government's decision last month not to reappoint him raises questions about whether it's merely pushing aside someone who has been a thorn for highly ranked public officials in recent years. In fact, while Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan has so far declined to provide details on the reasons for the move, it was only last December that he praised Ken- nedy for his commitment "to achieving excellence in policing" in announcing Help the bar and help yourself imes are tough for crimi- nal lawyers, but imagine wanting to enter the criminal defence field today. With a crushing student loan and few jobs to apply for, what do you do with the belief that you were put on this planet to make a difference? Surely, if the government T Take an articling student under your wing A Criminal loaned you money to go to law school, it must be because there are jobs out there. But sadly, there are usually only about a half-dozen criminal articling positions in private practice in Ottawa each year. The provincial Crown attorneys' office here al- lots two articling positions while the federal Department of Justice hires four students who will each do a few months of criminal ar- ticles in the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. There's no doubt this dearth of criminal articling positions is a problem across the province. It's probably hard to find posi- tions anywhere in Ontario. Maybe I am a bit old school, but somehow it resonates in my consciousness that lawyers col- lectively and members of the bar individually have a duty and obligation to assist and edu- cate prospective criminal defence counsel. Isn't this what our princi- pals and mentors did for us? Let's leave the dire state of legal aid and the commendable boycott to one side. Yes, the lack of funding is a large part of the problem, but the issue goes beyond that. Does the under- funding of legal aid release us, as members of the bar, from the responsibility that we all have to take articling students? We are the gateway to the call to the bar. Unless we do away Mind By Rosalind Conway with articling and the mentor- ship, camaraderie, and educa- tional opportunities it offers, we must rise to the occasion by tak- ing students more often and in greater numbers. When a student has a real criminal articling experience, the bar, the bench, and the public benefit. The knowledge of one generation passes to the next. In Hebrew, there is an expression for this: l'dor vador. It refers to both the responsibility and the legacy of one generation to the succeeding one. What do I mean by a real www.lawtimesnews.com criminal articling experience? Well, sitting in remand court, going out to the jail, doing emergency research, watching trials, going to conferences, and participating in client meetings are all part of it. It means soak- ing up what we do; learning to avoid ethical problems from someone who has encountered them before; and avoiding the serious mistakes that befall young calls to the bar who didn't have criminal articles and who, as we are allowed to do, simply began practising. I remember some wonderful experiences from when I was arti- cling and doing my clerkship. It's exhilarating after law school to be able to do real legal work and to have someone to discuss it with. If we fail to take students and pass on what we know, the repu- tation of the bar will suffer. But we lose something individually and collectively as well. What- ever you make of yourself as a barrister, whether you were an academic, a socially conscious lawyer or a prodigious practitio- ner liked by your clients, all of that is ephemeral. It's as if you left without an heir. So, if you are a sole practitio- ner, maybe, despite all the grim economic news, it is time to take an articling student. And if you are at a small firm and you already have a student, maybe your firm can take a second student. Taking a student is a double mitzvah: you help the student and you help the bar. Hey, the student might even help you. LT Rosalind Conway is a certified specialist in criminal litigation. She can be reached at rosalind. conway@magma.ca. a one-year extension of his term. So far, it's unclear whether the de- cision to end Kennedy's posting has anything to do with his outspoken- ness. But we've seen such scenarios play out already, including in the fir- ing of former Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission president Linda Keen af- ter the agency ordered the shutdown of the Chalk River reactor. Similar issues arose in the case of Military Police Complaints Commis- sion chairman Peter Tinsley, who also clashed with the government and isn't getting reappointed. So, whatever the official reasons the government gives for its moves, they do raise concerns. Given the important role people like Kennedy and Tinsley play in upholding the rule of law, we need to keep them in our public ser- vice. Just this week, Kennedy proved his worth once again. — Glenn Kauth December 14, 2009 • Law Times Law Times Inc. 240 Edward Street, Aurora, ON • L4G 3S9 Tel: 905-841-6481 • Fax: 905-727-0017 www.lawtimesnews.com President: Stuart J. Morrison Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Law Times Inc. 240 Edward St., Aurora, Ont. L4G 3S9 • 905-841-6481. lawtimes@clbmedia.ca CIRCULATIONS & SUBSCRIPTIONS $141.75 per year in Canada (GST incl., GST Reg. #R121351134) and US$266.25 for foreign addresses. Single copies are $3.55 Circulation inquiries, postal returns and address changes should include a copy of the mailing label(s) and should be sent to Law Times Inc. 240 Edward St., Aurora, Ont. L4G 3S9. Return postage guaranteed. Contact Kristen Schulz-Lacey at: kschulz-lacey@clbmedia.ca or Tel: 905-713-4355 • Toll free: 1-888-743-3551 or Fax: 905-841-4357. ADVERTISING Advertising inquiries and materials should be directed to Sales, Law Times, 240 Edward St., Aurora, Ont. L4G 3S9 or call Karen Lorimer at 905-713-4339 klorimer@clbmedia.ca, Kimberlee Pascoe at 905-713-4342 kpascoe@clbmedia. ca, or Kathy Liotta at 905-713-4340 kliotta@ clbmedia.ca or Sandy Shutt at 905-713-4337 sshutt@clbmedia.ca Law Times is printed on newsprint containing 25-30 per cent post-consumer recycled materials. Please recycle this newspaper.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Law Times - December 14, 2009