Law Times

PAGE 4 NEWS November 7, 2011 • Law Times LSUC head's pay exceeds counterparts: survey Continued from page 1 desired it," said Bencher Gary Gottlieb. "[Susan] Elliott, when she Name of was a treasurer, I believe that the honorarium was sub- stantially less and that did not preclude a lawyer from that practice context from serving Convocation. I very much re- member what [former treasurer] Vern Krishna said many years ago when we had the debate on bencher compensa- tion, and he said that most of us are here, we are not here to be paid for what we do but we're paid an honour by the profession." Records of the LSUC's past treasur- ers show very few have come from a small fi rm or were sole practitioners. According to Millar, this is possibly due to factors such as the increasing number of hours the treasurer works. "In a medium- to large-sized fi rm, you tend to get a lot of support," he says. "But in smaller fi rms and for organization Board chair remuneration per year How does law society chair remuneration compare across Canada? British LSUC $108,000 Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba $88,000 $74,000 $35,000 plus $5,000 if rural $30,000 sole practitioners, the honorarium be- comes much more important because you don't have that support system in place to the degree that larger-sized fi rms would, which makes it harder to devote the time the treasurer's role re- quires and still maintain your practice without the extra fi nancial support." Other benchers agree, including Krishna, who said he doesn't "want to hear any lawyers whining about their income. 1.6 per cent of the country has an income over $150,000. We are very privileged to belong to this pro- fession and, anyway, I think we are privileged to have treasurers who are willing to devote 1,800 hours of their N.W.T. 0 Quebec $269,000 Brunswick New $35,000 regulatory P.E.I. 0 Source: Law Society of Upper Canada time in the service of the profession. $175,000 in absolute terms appears high, but it is actually, given the con- text of the profession, I think, quite modest." According to the LSUC, the trea- surer previously committed roughly 1,500 hours of work per year fulfi lling LSUC duties. Since then, the number has risen to 1,800 hours. "Imagine 1,800 hours," said Bench- er Julian Porter. "I don't know whether they're taxable, but that is an immense amount of work . . . and we have to help them in any way we can." Despite the concerns, a look at law societies, law associations, and organizations in an April 2011 survey by the LSUC reveals that the On- tario regulator's treasurer typically earned more than the heads of almost all of those counterparts. Th e only exception was the Barreau du Québec, where the chair re- ceives 100 per cent of Superior Court judges' remuneration. But the LSUC notes the discrepan- cy is due to diff erences in the organiza- tions' structures and size. Th e Law Society of British Colum- bia's president received an honorarium of $88,000 last year. Meanwhile, the Ontario Bar As- sociation president receives $80,000. In 2010, Premier Dalton McGuinty earned about $209,000, roughly $34,000 more than the LSUC trea- surer will receive next year. Current Treasurer Laurie Pawlitza received an honorarium of $108,000 in 2011. Court filing needed for contempt: dissenting judge Continued from page 1 "mathdoktor99," specifi cally at stormfront.org and nspcanada. nsfhost.com. Th e claims included an allegation that Tremaine had posted the political program of the National-Socialist Party of Canada. Th e human rights commis- sion investigated the complaint and referred it to the tribu- nal, which found in favour of Warman in 2007. It concluded Tremaine's messages were "likely to expose persons of the Jewish faith, blacks, and other non- white minorities to hatred or contempt" and issued a cease- and-desist order in addition to a $4,000 fi ne. Th e appeal court ruling, however, found Tremaine has since violated the tribunal or- der by posting additional mes- sages on the Internet and fail- ing to remove the original ones. Th e decision followed an earlier Federal Court ruling that dis- missed contempt proceedings against Tremaine. "It was disappointing," says Fromm in reference to the new judgment. "Here's a man in his mid-50s who has lost his job and will probably never fi nd one again, given the circum- stances, and there seems to be no feeling for this man as a hu- man being." But University of Windsor law professor Robert Moon says a failure to put an end to "ex- treme" and "radical" discrimina- tory remarks is far too risky. "Any attempt to exclude from public discourse speech that ste- reotypes or defames members of an identifi able group would require extraordinary interven- tion by the state and would dramatically compromise the public commitment to freedom of expression," said Moon in a series of recommendations to the commission on the matter. "Be- cause these less extreme forms of discriminatory expression are so commonplace, it is impossible to establish clear and eff ective rules for their identifi cation and exclu- sion. But because they are so per- vasive, it is also vital that they be addressed or confronted." In the meantime, the appeal court has returned Tremaine's case to the Federal Court for sentencing. Fromm says Tre- maine plans to seek leave to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary. Others, however, don't see the CHOOSE THE LABOUR LAW CONTENT THAT FITS YOUR NEEDS LABOUR SPECTRUM FEATURING CANADIAN LABOUR ARBITRATION, FOURTH EDITION (BROWN & BEATTY) Labour Spectrum integrates case law, leading authored works, and up-to-date legislation – all in an accessible online format. Designed for labour practitioners, in-house counsel, unions and human resource professionals, Labour Spectrum allows you to choose the level of service that fits your needs. 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CANADA LAW BOOK® www.lawtimesnews.com A collection of labour relations board decisions • All court decisions cited in Canadian Labour Law, Second Edition • Images of reported decisions in PDF format issue of tribunals' powers the way Noël did, as Federal Court of Ap- peal Justice Denis Pelletier's dis- senting opinion makes clear. "Th e diff erence between our positions is that, in my view, be- fore a person can be found to be in contempt of court as a result of disobeying a tribunal order, that person must have notice that the tribunal order was fi led in the Federal Court so that they are aware that they are disobey- ing what is now a court order," Pelletier wrote in Tremaine. Th e ruling isn't the only re- cent authority on human rights tribunals' power. It comes as the country's top court ruled the federal tribunal doesn't have the authority to award costs. "In our view, the text, context, and purpose of the legislation clearly show that there is no au- thority in the tribunal to award legal costs and that there is no other reasonable interpretation of the relevant provisions," Su- preme Court justices Louis LeBel and Th omas Cromwell wrote in Canada (Canadian Human Rights Commission) v. Canada (Attorney General) on Oct. 28. A commission lawyer, how- ever, notes the two cases deal with separate issues. "Th e appeal ruling was im- portant in the sense that it showed a breach of a tribunal order can and will result in contempt," says Philippe Du- fresne, general counsel at the federal human rights commis- sion. "It's diff erent from the Su- preme Court ruling in that the Tremaine case was really about the rule of law, where [the top court decision] was about the powers of the tribunal to make cost awards. So they're diff erent in that sense. But the ultimate goal of the commission is to have Tremaine comply with the order."

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