Law Times

LAW TIMES / APRIL 28, 2008 Watching dirty movies was in Ottawa the other day to help Prime Minis- ter Stephen Harper get his censorship legislation ap- proved in the Senate. The legislation cracks O ne of the big stars of Canadian tele- vision evangelism The Hill By Richard Cleroux down on dirty movies and dirty television, on things such as sex and violence. It takes away their federal tax credits. Charles McVety is presi- dent of the Canada Christian College in Toronto and one of the most powerful preach- ers in Canada. After the Sen- ate appearance, he held a news conference. McVety is a large man who looks much like a stereotype American preacher. He has a way with words and a deep booming voice that reminds you the Day of Judgment is close at hand. McVety is influential. He once told an MP that when he calls Harper, "the tele- phone is answered." He says we have a "good government" right now which will exercise its new powers against dirty movies wisely. McVety holds a divinity degree from the California State Christian University. It is "not a diploma mill," says its web site. It is a "private post-second- ary vocational school with a religious exemption." It is an extension of the Tae Han Theological Seminary and College of Seoul, Korea founded by Dr. Chi Sun Kim. Later I discovered the name is not listed among California state universities. Reporters wanted to know which dirty movies McVety would pull the plug on. They asked him to name names. McVety says there are about half a dozen Canadian dirty movies a year. He knows them because he's been to the Toronto Film Festival and has seen them. Or rather he's seen parts of them, he quickly cor- rects himself. One was called Young Kissed is a film about sex with cadavers, he says. He cringes. I look up pensively. Cadavers? The thought had never oc- curred to me. He is flying high by now. I make a mental note to take in the film festival some day. The movie that really got to him was Breakfast with Scot, also at the festival. He says it's about a kid who has breakfast with two gay men. Gays are a big issue for McVety who led a lobbying campaign against same-sex marriage a couple of years back. He lost. McVety adds that one of the two "homosexuals" in the movie is a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player. He says the two men were "proselytizing" the boy. It's a word I'm more used to hearing in connection with preachers. I am confused. I always thought that gays were born that way. "Are you saying that peo- ple can be 'proselytized' into homosexuality?" I ask him politely. He replies in the affirma- COMMENT Courthouse education: raising the bar BY MANJUSHA PAWAGI For Law Times C tus law lawyers are brewing, says Justice Penny Jones of the On- tario Court of Justice at 311 Jar- vis St. in Toronto. Indeed, the practical train- ing of lawyers is being down- loaded from the law schools, from the bar admission course, and perhaps even from the articling programs. Last year, professor emeri- John Whiteside of the onditions for a "perfect storm" regarding the training of new family tive, probably wondering from which planet I have arrived. "That means," I begin, getting in way over my head, "that if I were to really work at it, hard, day after day, year after year, proselytizing you into becoming a homosexual, you could become one even though right now you are a heterosexual just like me?" He pulls back and falls si- People Fucking. But McVety keeps calling it "effing." He can't bring himself to say the word no matter how much I try to make him say it. It's not clear how much of the movie he watched, or what he saw, but at least he knows the title. "The title enough is offen- sive," and that is reason plenty for pulling the tax credit. I think to myself: "Who says you can't judge a movie by its title?" Next he names The Mastur- bators. I ask him what he saw. It's not clear how much he took in. But somebody had to do it, I suppose. Why is he so sure that mov- ie is pornographic, I ask? "I don't think it's about a Model 'A' Ford," he replies. We both chuckle. The man at least has a sense of humor. lent. If he had said people like himself who are not born ho- mosexual can't be proselytized into homosexuality, I would have answered there isn't much danger to kids watching the Maple Leafs have breakfast. But if he answered that straights can be proselytized into homosexuality if there's enough effort, then I might ask him how many film festi- val movies he's watched. He backs away, a smile on his face. This man is no fool. He slips me his business card, a big red Canadian flag on it. There is a footnote to all this. I wasn't there when McVety went to the Senate. But I was told that he couldn't bring himself to say the word "masturbation," so he called it "The Big M." It so happens there is already a "Big M" in the Senate. He's Liberal Senator Frank Mahov- lich, and yes, he did once play for the Maple Leafs. LT Richard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Par- liament Hill. His e-mail address is richardcleroux@rogers.com University of Windsor's Fac- ulty of Law made waves with his criticism that law schools are not adequately training lawyers to practise law. Then in January 2008, a law society task force on licens- ing and accreditation issued an interim report recommending scrapping the society's four-week licensing course that two years ago replaced the four-month- long bar admission course. The report concluded that it is difficult, if not impossible, to learn practical skills other than in a practice context. However, the report also raises concerns about the current articling pro- gram in Ontario, noting that most of the articling positions are with large Toronto firms and do not properly equip law students who become sole prac- titioners. The task force is ask- ing for comments on, among other things, an abolishment of the articling requirement entirely. Adding to that are concerns about the greying of the legal aid and family law bar and about who is going to be mentoring young family law lawyers who are often sole practitioners — the so-called Main Street lawyers of yesteryear. Enter the courthouse. In 2002, Jones began the 311 Jarvis Open Bar Series: monthly educational seminars held after hours at the court- house itself and that included an opportunity for lawyers to meet and mingle and discuss the issues of the day. Its creation was prompted by the fact that family law legis- lation was changing: there were new procedural rules and new child support guidelines and there was confusion over what was going on with the family responsibility office. Jones recalls that at the time the series began there was a lack of information and a lack of a forum to provide that information. "We used to have absolutely nothing; family lawyers were the last people that any money was put into. Now we have a plethora of programs that didn't exist before. This program got the ball rolling," says Jones. "Rather than running around just trying not to get reported, this was an easy way for lawyers to keep up." www.lawtimesnews.com Previous topics for the monthly seminars have included: follow the money, understand- ing financial disclosure; beyond best interests, parenting capacity in a child welfare context; and appeals 101 (which had judges from the OCJ, SCJ, and Court of Appeal on the panel). Speaker's The series runs in partnership with Legal Aid and is part of its quality assurance program. Legal Aid panel lawyers attending the series can get credit towards the minimum continuing legal edu- cation hours they require in or- der to be empanelled. "Am I just a judge or am I in- terested in improving practice?" asks Jones. "How are we going to have better delivery of legal services to the public?" She says she would see the who heads the quality assurance program at Legal Aid, that she thinks the DVD program has helped increase the number of lawyers prepared to accept legal aid certificates It has been called the little program that grew. There have been over 120 attendees at the last few sessions. Corner most recent cases of interest on child welfare, family, procedural, and evidentiary issues. Ishbel Ogilvie, duty counsel first seminar of 2008 was standing-room only. That seminar, entitled, "Cases guaranteed to make your job easier: don't leave home without them," in- cluded discussion of the The PAGE 7 same errors come up before her on a daily basis and she asked, "Do you correct coun- sel on a one-by-one basis, do you let it slide, or do you treat it as a systemic issue, requir- ing a systemic solution?" According to Jones, family law is a fascinating and compli- cated area of law where you can go from a very human problem about a child's access-visit right to a very technical one such as the evidentiary issue of the ad- missibility of business records. And she felt there was a need for a learning environment that was informal, improved morale, and fostered mentoring relation- ships, where people could learn from and help each other. As a result of the series, Jones says she has noticed an improve- ment in such issues as dealing with disclosure. For instance, she finds that lawyers no longer just dump documents on the table and agree they must be business records because they came from a business. She credits an "amazing" committee that organizes the seminars, comes up with topic ideas, recruits speakers, puts together the materials; a com- mittee that is really interested in helping lawyers get up to speed. Indeed, two people on the small but dedicated com- mittee have been appointed to the bench in the last 12 months: Justice Carole Curtis in North York and Justice Roselyn Zisman in Milton. Often training sessions are in the middle of a working day and cost hundreds of dollars. The seminars cost $20 a session, including the materials and even refreshments, and run from 5 to 6:30 p.m. with a social portion at 4:30 p.m. in advance of the session. DVDs of past sessions can be ordered from the Legal Aid web site. Jones says she had heard from Sherry Cameron-Stobie, supervisor at 311 Jarvis, says she always gets the materials from the seminars, as they are "excel- lent, substantive, and practical," and always "something that can be used right away." Helen Miller says sole prac- titioners such as herself do not have as many people to bounce things off of or a well-equipped library. She appreciates the sem- inars, as they are conducted by lawyers and judges from the same courts she appears in. Justice Stanley Sherr says the seminars appeal to both junior and senior counsel as they usu- ally have a practical compon- ent involving how to present a case in court. He called it a "wonderful opportunity for the legal community to get together and discuss practical and substantive issues that re- late to day-to-day practice in this particular court." Sherr sits at North York court, which has begun its own educational series, and he has spoken at seminars at both 311 Jarvis and 47 Sheppard. Carene Smith, policy counsel from Legal Aid's quality service office says that as the bar ad- mission course has changed, the practical resources and teachers that used to be available are no longer there. She says lawyers on their own do not have ac- cess to senior counsel to guide them and that they need to hear from judges and senior counsel for advice on best practices. "So many family lawyers are young and on their own, they need a support system," says Smith. "This program fills a void." As Jones puts it, there is al- ways "a particular solution for a particular issue at a particular time . . . this is ours." The next Open Bar session will be May 12, 2008: "Clients and unrepresented parties really com- plicate a lawyer's family case" at 311 Jarvis St., 4:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Legal Aid panel members can order DVDs of past sessions at www.legalaid.on.ca LT Manjusha Pawagi is in-house counsel at the Office of the Chil- dren's Lawyer and a member of the 311 Jarvis Open Bar Ser- ies educational committee. Her e-mail address is manjusha. pawagi@ontario.ca

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