Law Times

Page 16 November 2, 2015 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com JP CHIDED BY JUDGE A Superior Court judge had strong words for a justice of the peace who quashed a traffic ticket on her own motion. "It is abundantly clear, pursuant to section 36, that it is up to the defendant and not the court to bring a motion to quash," wrote Justice Mark Edwards, referring to s. 36 of the Provincial Offences Act. In Regional Municipality of York v. Lorman, Edwards took justice of the peace Rhonda Shousterman to task for not following recent deci- sions on that issue: Regional Municipality of Niagara v. Kosyatchkov and York (Regional Municipality) v. Datoo. "Justice of the Peace Shousterman did not follow the decisions in Ko- syatchkov and Datoo. . . . She also did not follow two other decisions of this court where it was made very clear that she did not have jurisdiction to quash a certificate of offence on her own motion where the defendant was before the court," wrote Edwards. Apparently, it's not the first time the issue has arisen. "This court has spoken, on more than one occasion, with respect to the proclivity of Jus- tice of the Peace Shousterman to bring her own motion to quash certifi- cates of offence," Edwards continued. "Her decision to quash the certificate of offence where there was no motion by the respondent to do so was a clear error of law. It is clear from her earlier decisions that she knew she did not have the jurisdiction to quash the certificate of offence yet she proceeded to do what she knew she had no jurisdiction to do and thus challenged the prosecution to appeal." In the end, Edwards quashed Shousterman's decision on the tick- et. But he made it clear he wanted to emphasize the importance of stare decisis. "Ultimately, we all have to abide by the decisions of an appellate court. Justices of the peace, like judges of this court, are hu- man and may not always like the decision of an appellate court. Fun- damentally, however, we must all abide by the decisions of the higher court whether we like it or not." COPS CALLING ON UNHAPPY CITIZENS DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Is happiness a law enforcement issue? In a roundabout way, it could be given that security probably makes people happier. But some people have questions about an effort by Dubai police to call on those who've said they were unhappy in a recent survey. According to The Associated Press, Dubai police recently sent out a survey asking people: "Are you happy in Dubai?" While 84 per cent of respondents said things were just fine, 10 per cent said they were unhappy. But taking the matter further, Dubai's police chief, Maj.- Gen. Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, said officers would check on some of the unhappy respon- dents to see what was wrong. "If the matter is under our jurisdiction, we will help them with it, but if it has to do with another government entity, we will forward the issue to the concerned department," The Asso- ciated Press quoted him as saying. Happiness is a big concern in Dubai. Ac- cording to The Associated Press, it's trying to crack the top 10 rankings of the world's happi- est cities by 2021. But while it may be an otherwise-benign ef- fort, some observers have their questions. "This looks like to me an attempt to try to slightly frighten people into A) replying to the survey question and B) replying to say they're happy because people really don't want to be rung up by the police with the question: 'Well, what's your problem?'" The Associated Press quoted William Davies, author of the book The Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being, as saying. "But I don't know. Maybe there's something sincere about it." It doesn't sound like something that would f ly very well in Canada, of course. This is the country, after all, whose government cancelled the long-form census over privacy concerns. NUDE BURGLAR GETS IN BED WITH VICTIMS PORTLAND, Ore. — It's one thing to steal from a house but it's a different situation when a burglar strips off his clothes and gets into bed with his victims. That's the bizarre set of circumstances fac- ing police in Portland recently. In this case, a naked burglar who hopped into a couple's bed in the middle of the night wound up f leeing down the street after the male victim woke up, chased him with a gun, and fired three shots, police said. Portland police say Dean Defeudis, 32, broke into a Portland home around 3 a.m., gathered items of value, stripped naked, climbed into bed with a couple, and then kissed the man. "The victim woke up and the suspect was sitting on top of him holding a knife," Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson said in a written state- ment. "The victim pushed the suspect off of him as the victim retrieved his handgun and began giving the suspect commands to stop. "The suspect put his pants on and ran out of the home, chased by the victim who fired three shots near the suspect to get him to stop." Defeudis wasn't injured in the incident, Re- uters reported. The male victim, who was also unhurt, wasn't expected to face charges in the incident. Defeudis was to be arraigned in Multnomah County Court on burglary and sex abuse charges as well as unlawful use of a weapon, court officials said. Defeudis was treated at a local hospital for suspected drug use before being taken to Mult- nomah County jail, according to Simpson. LT © 2015 Stewart. All rights reserved. We put legal professionals front and centre and we put our efforts into keeping real estate transactions where they belong – in your office. Learn more about our level of support, call (888) 667-5151 or visit stewart.ca. Ally Untitled-2 1 2015-09-30 4:01 PM u Bizarre Briefs By Viola James u The InsIde story WHISTLEBLOWER POLICY PROPOSED The Ontario Securities Com- mission is seeking comment on its proposed whistleblower pro- gram. The OSC says the program, which is an effort to encourage the reporting of serious securities- related misconduct, would be the first of its kind for securities regu- lators in Canada. Most notably, it would provide eligible whistle- blowers up to $5 million if the OSC recovers funds. "The OSC recognizes that whistleblowers are an incredibly valuable source of information. We are providing strong incen- tives for them to come forward. Our whistleblower program is well considered, and we believe it will result in real-time tips on complex securities law matters that may otherwise be difficult for us to detect," said chairman and chief executive officer Howard Wetston. "This is a game changer for the OSC and our ability to achieve stronger outcomes for in- vestors and the capital markets." Besides the $5-million cap, the policy would also allow for pay- ments of up to $1.5 million re- gardless of whether the regulator recovers any money or not. Eligi- ble whistleblowers include direc- tors and officers, chief compliance officers, in-house legal counsel, and culpable whistleblowers. The regulator is seeking comment by Jan. 12, 2016 and aims to have the program in place by the spring. POLL RESULTS The results of the latest Law Times online poll are in. Canadians already had some input on the niqab issue dur- ing the Oct. 19 election, but Law Times also sought its readers' thoughts as the vote got underway last month. According to the poll, 60 per cent of respondents felt the federal government shouldn't try to continue to ban the niqab at citizenship ceremonies. The outgoing Conservative government, of course, has vig- orously fought the issue in the courts, but the matter is now like- ly moot given the position taken by the Liberal party to oppose the ban. LT "Let's see. It's got hubble, it's got bubble, it's got toil and trouble. But I don't see it having an Amendment 258 to Toronto's official plan implementing a development permit system." Ontario Superior Court

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