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PAGE 16 WillBuilder Tel: 416.322.6111 Toll-free: 1.866.367.7648 doprocess com ntitled-7 1 The TRC BACK ON TRACK The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Com- mission is getting back to work after the appointment of Justice Murray Sinclair as chairman. Also appointed commission- ers were educator and journalist Marie Wilson and Chief Wil- ton Littlechild from Maskawa- cis Cree Territory, who was the first Treaty First Nations person to obtain a law degree from the University of Alberta. The appointments follow the October 2008 resignation of for- mer TRC chairman and Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Harry LaForme, whose departure was later followed by two commis- sioners he'd accused of under- mining his authority. Sinclair was Manitoba's first Aboriginal judge and is a third- degree member of the Mide- wiwin Society of the Ojibway. He was appointed associate chief judge of the Provincial Court of Manitoba in 1988, and was also appointed co-commissioner of Manitoba's Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. He was appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba in January 2001. PROVINCE NAMES NEW OCJ JUSTICES Six new judges have been appoint- ed to the Ontario Court of Justice, beefing up the judicial presence in provincial courtrooms. Justice Mara Greene, called to the bar in 1996, practised criminal law in Toronto, focusing on cases involving the mentally ill, including Ontario Review Board hearings. In 2002, she co-founded the firm Schreck & Greene, and has been involved in all levels of court including the Ontario Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada. She was a board member of the Criminal Lawyers' Association. She will preside in Toronto. Justice Fergus O'Donnell, called in 1986, began his career practising in the private bar be- fore becoming a prosecutor with Reinventing the Will www 1/26/09 3:38:37 PM Inside Story the federal Department of Jus- tice for 20 years. He spent three years as deputy director of the Federal Prosecution Service, and in 2007 joined the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney Gen- eral as a member of the Guns and Gangs Unit. He also will preside in Toronto. Justice Heather Perkins- McVey, called in 1988, embarked on her career as a criminal lawyer with the firm Shore Davis Per- kins-McVey in Ottawa. She has since worked as a sole practitio- ner focusing on criminal matters involving mental health issues. In 2008, she was named a special ad- vocate by the federal Justice min- ister. She took part in developing mental health courts in Ottawa. She will preside in Ottawa. Justice Wayne Rabley, called in 1984, has worked as a sole practitioner for his entire career, focusing on criminal and family law, along with civil litigation. Rabley was a founding member and the first elected president of the Criminal Lawyers' Asso- ciation of Kitchener-Waterloo, and served as an executive mem- ber from 1998 to 2004. He will preside in London. Justice Richard Schwarzl, called in 1990, began his career as a member of the private bar and part-time assistant Crown attorney. In 1992, he became a full-time prosecutor throughout southern Ontario. Schwarzl has acted as a dedicated Crown for domestic violence, sexual assault, and child-abuse prosecutions. He will preside in Brampton. Justice Maria Speyer, called in 1988, started out as an associate at Giffen Lee & Wagner in Kitchen- er until 1991, when she became a partner at Grant Shields & Spey- er in Cambridge for a year. Since 2003 she has been a prosecutor with the Ministry of the Attor- ney General, and became deputy Crown attorney for Toronto west. She will preside in Hamilton. LT STG_05_LT_BaseBar 8/16/06 8:52 AM Page 1 For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com HONKING NOT PROTECTED SPEECH SEATTLE — A dustup over the prohibition of keeping chicken's in backyards has led to a very important constitu- tional free-speech ruling in the U.S. Honking in front of your neighbour's house at the crack of dawn — not OK! Helen Immelt was honking mad that her neighbours com- plained about the chickens she was keeping in her yard, against local regulations. Immelt, 52, was sent a letter by the neighbourhood associa- tion telling her the fowl had to go. She confronted a neighbour and the association president, cops were called in, shouting drew in other neighbours. Once one of the neighbours fessed up he made the first complaint, Immelt gave him a 10-minute honk-a-thon at 5:50 a.m. one morning and then returned at 8 a.m. for another round. After further shenanigans and visits from the cops, she was charged with a noise violation. Here's the wrapup from the Seattle Times: For the noise violation in 2006, Immelt went through and lost a three-day jury trial, then appealed the case to the Washington Court of Appeals, representing her- self. In his opinion, Justice C. ™ June 15, 2009 • Law Times Bizarre Briefs By Viola James Kenneth Grosse interpreted the words of the Founding Fathers thusly: "Horn honking per se is not free speech." Grosse wrote, "Horn honk- ing which is done to annoy or harass others is not speech." LOSER TAKES HEARTBREAK TO COURT NEW YORK — Sean McGinn posted his profile on Match.com but never had any responses. Dejected, McGinn, 37, has filed a lawsuit against the dating website citing "humiliation and disappointment" for people "who feel rejected when their e-mails get no reply." According to the New York Post, McGinn claims Match. com is committing fraud by keeping up profiles of people who are no longer subscribers. McGinn said the practice leads to broken hearts when users write e-mails to the inactives and never hear back. "They are left feeling they've been completely ignored and rejected," said Norah Hart, one of McGinn's lawyers. "For some people, it could affect their romantic future." STRIPPERS WANT RECOGNITION MINNEAPOLIS — There's no difference between a stripper and a hairstylist, says one exotic dancer looking for official rec- ognition as an employee. Lawyer E. Michelle Drake argues the King of Diamonds club is violating state and feder- al wage-and-hour laws by inten- tionally misclassifying strippers like her client as independent contractors and making them pay between $20 and $100 a night to rent a pole. The key difference between a hairdresser and a stripper, Drake notes, is that the stylist is considered an employee and gets a wage, whereas the dancer is forced to work only for tips and pay for the pole. By making women pay to come to work, and by refusing to pay them, club managers "are taking advantage of the fact that women in this industry may be hesitant to assert their rights to wages," she says. OMG! THE TRBL WITH TXTNG BOCA RATON — Two youths, obviously new at crime, learned a hard lesson about tex- ting without thinking. Cops arrived at the scene of a break-in and searched, find- ing a sweaty young lad in the bushes who could not explain why he was there. While police questioned him, his partner in crime texted him, saying he was hiding because the cops were looking for him. Po- lice saw the text and the juvenile gave up the name and location of his cohort, the report said. The second juvenile was found hiding near a pool nearby. Both youths 'fessed up. LT "Poor fool! He violated the publication ban about the previous publication ban covering the two partial, overlapping publication bans concerning the other publication ban forbidding the mentioning, even in casual conversation, of the original publication ban." At Stewart Title, it's how we work that sets us apart. We deal in title insurance and related products, undertaking no part of the transaction that has traditionally fallen to legal professionals. Since our inception into the Canadian market, you will find that we have consistently combined comprehensive coverage with unparalleled support for legal professionals. 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