Law Times

JUDICIAL COMMENT Judges call for family law advocacy aſt er their articles in order to take their positions, an arbitra- tor has ruled. In his ruling last week, arbitra- lerks at the Ontario Superior Court will no longer have to consider deferring their call to the bar tor William Kaplan agreed with the Association of Law Offi cers of the Crown (ALOC) that the em- ployer, the Ontario government, violated the collective agreement by imposing contract terms that prevented clerks from being called to the bar as a term and condition of continued employment. "If the employer decides to Court clerks can now be called to bar C $4.00 • Vol. 23, No. 29 COVERING ONTARIO'S LEGAL SCENE • WWW.LAWTIMESNEWS.COM September 17, 2012 ntitled-4 1 L AW TIMES P4 Court slams government over gun registry P6 BY MARG. BRUINEMAN For Law Times hire clerks eligible to be called to the bar, it cannot unilaterally impose a contractual term upon them that prevents them from being called, decision dated Sept. 4. "Th e imposition of a prohibi- a collective bargaining regime whether or not individuals agree. " said Kaplan in the Ontario prison conditions at 'all-time low' tion that the individuals not be called to the bar is of real signifi - cance and great weight and can- not be imposed unilaterally in working under that condition per year, says Ste- ven Barrett, managing partner at Sack Goldblatt v. Association of Law Offi cers of the Crown sug- gested that money was at the core of the dispute. tablished principles," says Barrett. Th e decision in Management Board of Cabinet tworth Detention Centre went into lockdown aſt er jail workers walked off the job in a dispute over safety. A month before, the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre was the site of a "near riot" following another lock- down and weapons search, accord- ing to the London Free Press. Conditions at the London, P Overcrowding is a growing problem in Ontario's jails, says John Hill. Last month, the Hamilton-Wen- risoners and their guards have found a common en- emy this summer: the pro- vincial government. BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times the conditions there. London lawyer Kevin Egan of McKenzie Lake Lawyers LLP is handling more than 70 civil claims by inmates of the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre against the prov- ince. He says the number is rising. His clients have complained the TV, no using the phone without permission, which comes from the tough guys." Penalties for transgression are about safety at the facility with most of the claims stemming from as- saults by fellow inmates and some- times by guards. Egan says the jail is poorly designed, a fact that gives guards limited views of the cells and results in minimal supervision. "Th ey've allowed a culture to de- Ont., facility have sparked a rash of lawsuits from inmates and judges have weighed in with rul- ings that paint an ugly picture of velop where the meanest, toughest inmates control what goes on," says Egan. "Th ey set the rules. In fact, they post the rules in each block: no whistling, no walking in front of A DAILY BLOGOF CANADIAN LEGAL NEWS [WWW.CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/LEGALFEEDS ] LegalFeeds-BB-LT-Apr23-12.indd 1 harsh, according to Egan. Some of his clients claim fellow inmates who control the cellblocks have severely beaten them up and forced them to vomit up drugs. Many of the claims, none of which have been proven in court, allege the province' dress the violence has resulted in breaches of prisoners' s. 7 rights re- lated to security of the person under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Egan says s failure to ad- Community Safety and Correc- tional Services has failed to imple- ment recommendations from the Ministry of See London, page 5 ceeded to a hearing a year later. It contested a pre-employment condition imposed on Supe- rior Court clerks preventing their call to the bar before or during their tenure with the court. Since 2010, about fi ve people have been Th e grievance fi led in August 2011 pro- " Mitchell LLP who acted for the association. But, he adds, the association was able to persuade the court to suspend that practice while waiting for the arbitrator to deal with the issue. As a result, few people had to delay their call to the bar. "Th e arbitrator applied pretty lon g and es- The association was able to persuade the court to suspend the practice of preventing clerks' call to the bar while the case was pending, says Steven Barrett. FEDS CRITICIZED FOCUS ON Competition Law P8 12-03-20 10:44 A Arbitrator strikes contract term, suggests dispute was about pay Photo: Robin Kuniski By employing clerks not yet called to the bar, the government was able to pay a lower wage. Th e employer' policy for third-year applicants "strongly suggests that the prohibition on the call to the bar is driven by a desire to avoid paying" the rate for Crown counsel, Kaplan noted. "It is completely within the employer' to ensure that it hires no clerks who are eligible for See Year, page 5 s power s clerkship program recruitment CANADIAN LAWYER & LAW TIMES POWERED BY 12-04-16 11:56 AM PM #40762529

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