David Raymond Amos@DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos@alllibertynews and 49 others
Methinks the Canadian Justice Dept and their cohorts should have learned
to uphold the law, their mandates and their own rules before I sue
again much to the chagrin of a SANB lawyer named Joe Blow N'esy Pas?
Province's newest chief justice calls for modern technology in courtrooms
38 Comments
David Amos Methinks the SANB spin doctor should count the ways Madam Justice DeWare and I have a conflict of interest N'esy Pas?
OTTAWA, June 22, 2012 — The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada,
today announced the following appointment:
The Honourable Tracey T. DeWare, a lawyer with Stewart McKelvey, is
appointed a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench in Campbellton, to
replace Madam Justice G.J. Young, who elected to become a supernumerary
judge as of February 25, 2012.
Madam Justice DeWare attended Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec
from 1988 to 1991. She received a Bachelor of Laws from the University
of New Brunswick in 1994 and was admitted to the Bar of New Brunswick
the same year.
Madam Justice DeWare has been a lawyer with Stewart McKelvey since 2005.
Previously she was with Murphy Collette Murphy from 1999 to 2005,
Wingate O'Neil DeWare from 1998 to 1999 and Bingham Brison Blair from
1994 to 1998. Her main area of practice was civil litigation.
Madam Justice DeWare has been a member of the Insurance Management
Committee of the Law Society of New Brunswick since 2010 and a
supplementary member of the New Brunswick Securities Commission since
2011. She has been a member of the Review Tribunal of the Office of the
Commissioner of Review Tribunals Canada Pension Plan/Old Age Security
since 2010. She has been a member of L'Association des juristes
d'expression française du Nouveau-Brunswick since 2006 and the Canadian
Bar Association since 2009. She was chair of the Editorial Board of the
Solicitor Journal from 2006 to 2010 and is a past-president and
treasurer of the Moncton Area Lawyers' Association.
McKenzie King Great.
Maybe we can even get some judges to put down their quill pens and use
a typewriter!!! Hopefully using morer technology will free up court
time to get cases concluded morre quickly, or to stop the needless
transportation of accused, jailed people to the courtroom just to offer a
plea.
David Amos
Reply to @McKenzie King: Spoken just like a lawyer
Harold Benson twitter should do it.
David Amos
Reply to @Harold Benson: Methinks Sam knows about my work within Twitter N'esy Pas?
Colin Seeley She seems will be a wonderful addition and a breath of fresh air .
Electronic technology for filing just like CRA filings is a smart idea.
Bring it on.
Good luck to her.
David Amos
Reply to @Colin Seeley: Yea Right
David Amos Reply
to @Colin Seeley: Methinks you should ask Mr Prime Minister Trudeau The
Younger (the same dude who appointed this judge to be the local boss)
why I have been arguing his Justice Dept minions in Federal Court for
years and why I cannot file electronically with the CRA and Service
Canada etc. N'esy Pas?
Josef Blow It
would appear from the crack comments to this news item that the Con/PC
letter writing brigade has decided to flex its collective muscle and
spew tired old and badly worn fallacies.
David Amos Content disabled Reply to @Josef Blow: Methinks the SANB needs a replacement spin doctor clever enough to pick a believable name N'esy Pas?
Mack Leigh Great news,,, bring on the translation devices... No need for every lawyer, judge, janitor or other to be bilingual.....
John
O'Brien
Reply to @Mack Leigh:
You must be kidding. Deware is as much a devotee of SANB as Michel
Bastarache. No way is she going to advocate something that SANB opposes;
she will try to further entrench Francophone rights
Josef Blow
Reply to @John O'Brien: Of course, John, you have informed sources at the ready to support your learned conclusions?
Josef Blow
Reply to @John
O'Brien: I think you are a devotee of anything and everything that is
designed to negate the rights of francophones.
David Amos
Reply to @John O'Brien: I concur
Josef Blow
Reply to @David Amos: Oh my … he doth subscribe to the plat ti tudes of his learned brother. Stop the presses now !
John
O'Brien Her
main job , like all the judges, will be to do SANB bidding. But with
the push in Fredericton to amend or drop the OLA, that may be a moot
point.
Josef Blow
Reply to @Josef Blow: You have displayed a comment devoid of any truth.
Josef Blow
Reply to @John
O'Brien: incidentally, John, even you would agree that a judge’s daily
duties involve more than tending to the wishes of the SANB. This comment
of yours is puzzling at best.
Josef Blow
Reply to @John O'Brien: “the push in Fredericton ...” the three of them couldn’t push a VW microbus ... lol
David Amos
Reply to @John O'Brien: YUP
Josef Blow
Reply to @David Amos: A man of few words (sometimes) … thankfully.
Marc Bourque The
real push for change is the pandering judges, who dont do their jobs
properly!Some of these appointed hacks dont have a clue about the law
or justice for the victims!
Josef Blow
Reply to @Marc
Bourque: Says you, a legal scholar who is only too qualified to speak to
legal issues. Where are your articles published?
David Amos
Reply to @Marc Bourque: Oh So True about most but not all
Josef Blow
Reply to @David Amos: Words from one scoller to another scoller ? Law on a cornflakes box grads ...
Marc Bourque Reply
to @Josef Blow: you think? I may not be a law student but I can
guarantee that without a shadow of a doubt that my statements holds
true!.I cannot devolve more without dragging another party into the mix
and have their career in jeopardy... from a scholar to you the scoller!
Marc Bourque
Reply to @Josef Blow: I have more first hand knowledge that what you know, Mr Who Is Afraid To Use His Real Name!
David Amos
Reply to @Marc Bourque: Me Too However my replies to him are blocked
David Amos Reply to @David Amos: "Oh So True about most but not all "
Methinks many know that I have already stated that I admire Justice
French because I witnessed his sense of fair play and sticking to the
rule of law N'esy Pas?
The Honourable Mr. Justice Raymond T. French
Mr. Justice French was born in Saint John. He and his wife, Jill Whitehouse, have two children.
Before his appointment to the Court of Appeal in June, 2015, he had been
a judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench (since April, 2007).
Justice French was called to the Bar (February, 1988) following studies
at University of New Brunswick (B.B.A., 1982 and LL.B., 1986) and London
School of Economics and Political Science (LL.M., 1987). After
practicing in Fredericton for three years, he returned to Saint John in
1990 to join Palmer, O’Connell, Leger, Roderick, Glennie. He was made
partner in 1995 and continued his practice there until he was appointed
to the bench. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2005
In his practice, he acted as counsel in a wide range of business and
financial matters including, transactions involving bankruptcy and
insolvency, corporate restructuring, banking and financing, securities,
franchises, information technology, environment, construction, project
finance and intellectual property issues He was a registered trade-mark
agent
Justice French lectured in the UNB faculties of Business (1993-1998) and
Engineering (1998) and the N. B. Bar Admissions Course (Bankruptcy and
Insolvency 1997-2007 Landlord & Tenant 1991-1996 Civil Litigation
1996-2000) He also lectured and presented papers at a number of national
and regional conferences on a variety of commercial, banking and
bankruptcy issues
His community involvement included: Chair, Saint John Board of Police Commissioners (2005-2007)
Murray
Brown Except...
Electronic filing has it's drawbacks... Namely forgery and fakes
created from originals... I guess she's never heard of 'Photoshop'.
Lewis Herbert
Reply to @Murray
Brown: When they are talking about electronic filing of legal documents,
they are not talking about presenting evidence at trial. Instead, they
are talking about allowing people to file legal documents such as
Statement of Claims, Statement of Defences, briefs, etc. with the court
by an electronic means instead of having a physical hard copy delivered
directly to the court for filing.
Josef Blow
Reply to @Murray Brown: Your comment on dishonesty could apply to the concocted comments on here.
Mack Leigh
Reply to @Josef Blow:
Is it not wonderful that the only comments of any truth or of any value
seem to be your own..... Yes, a legend in your own mind...
Josef Blow
Reply to @Mack Leigh: if you have “anything of value” to say, please do feel free to do so. :-)
David Amos
Reply to @Lewis Herbert: YUP
David Amos
Reply to @Mack Leigh: I agree
Josef Blow
Reply to @David Amos:
Darrel and his other brother Darrel … grey matter is the cement
byproduct on their cereal "cos they thought it looked real good ...
Josef Blow
Reply to @Mack Leigh:
Well someone has to be a legend … lol. I always thought that the only
legend was Amos. Ask him, he'll agree that he's legendary.
---------- Original message ----------
From: "Fine, Sean" <SFine@globeandmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2019 23:55:10 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: Faisal Khan Suri would not listen to me so perhaps his political friends or the cops can explain my concerns
To: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
?I am in a place far removed from reality, from June 1 to June 8. On my return, I promise to be kinder.
---------- Original message ----------
From: "Fine, Sean" <SFine@globeandmail.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2017 15:39:12 -0400
Subject: Out of Office: Yo Loik Amis So much for the Integrity of your friends and associates in the legal business N'esy Pas?
To: David Amos <motomaniac333@gmail.com>
Back in August . . . zzzz...
http://lawjournal.mcgill.ca/en/text/96
The Politics of Judicial Appointments, part I Posted on Wed, 14 Oct 2015 11:00:00 +0000
The federal government has been criticized for allegedly picking judges based on political considerations and in a non-transparent manner. In the first part of a two-part episode on the federal judicial appointment process, we look into the scope of the government’s discretion in naming judges and the role that ideology or partisanship might play in the process. We speak with Sean Fine, justice reporter at the Globe and Mail; Professor Robert Leckey of McGill’s Faculty of Law; and David Gourdeau, a former commissioner for federal judicial affairs.
The Politics of Judicial Appointments, part II Posted on Wed, 04 Nov 2015 12:30:00 +0000
The former federal government has been criticized for allegedly picking judges based on political considerations and in a non-transparent manner. In the second part of a two-part episode on the federal judicial appointment process, we look into whether the current process needs to be reformed and, if it does, how. We speak with Leonid Sirota, J.S.D. Candidate at the New York University School of Law and Professor Rosemary Cairns Way from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law.
Court
of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare is pictured here at her
swearing-in ceremony with New Brunswick Court of Appeal Chief Justice
Marc Richard. (Submitted by Tracey DeWare)
The new chief justice of the Court of
Queen's Bench says she hopes a new wave of younger judges will be open
to her push to take advantage of modern technology in the court system.
Tracey DeWare was named to the top administrative role
on the court this week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. As chief
justice, DeWare will still hear cases but will devote about half her
time to administering the court by managing the caseload and assigning
judges to cases.
DeWare, 49, has been a Court of Queen's Bench
justice since 2012 and is bilingual. She takes over from former Chief
Justice David Smith, who hung up his robes in March when he reached the mandatory retirementage of 75.
The
federal government also appointed three New Brunswick lawyers to fill
three other vacancies on the same court: Christa Bourque and Robert
Dysart of Moncton and Arthur Doyle of Saint John.
Push for change
DeWare
says she and the three new judges are all roughly the same age and that
will make it easier for her to push the Court of Queen's Bench to
embrace new technological tools.
"We really have had quite a bit
of renewal over the course of the last couple of years. These three new
additions just add to that," she said in an interview.
"Now in
the judiciary, you're drawing on people who in their [law] practices
have had to evolve to 2019 already, to a certain extent. It becomes much
easier as we try to revise our work on the court that you have people
who are already halfway there."
Cameras in the courtroom could really demystify our system and be a wonderful educational tool.- Tracey DeWare, Court of Queen's Bench chief justice
DeWare
says she'd like to see the court allow the electronic filing of legal
documents, which would simplify the process and save money. "It's
nonsensical that we wouldn't do that," she said.
She will also encourage greater use of existing court rules that allow people to testify or appear in court via videoconference.
That
would make it easier and less expensive for expert witnesses, or a
parent in a custody case who is working in another province. The system
already allows it "but we really haven't exploited that, I don't think,
as much as we can."
Openness is cornerstone of justice system
DeWare says she'd also like to move toward allowing cameras in courtrooms. The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has allowed it in a very small number of high-profile appeals, and DeWare says it makes sense to broaden it.
"The
courts are open," she said. "They're open to the public. That's a
cornerstone of our justice system, and cameras in the courtroom could
really demystify our system and be a wonderful educational tool."
DeWare's predecessor spent the last two years of his tenure in a dispute with the previous Liberal government over changes to the Judicature Actwhich took away his unilateral power to transfer Court of Queen's Bench judges to a different location.
The
Liberal amendment to the law gave the provincial justice minister a
veto, which Smith called an infringement on the independence of the
courts.
DeWare didn't say whether she agreed with Smith but said she doesn't plan to press the issue with the provincial government.
"There's
a law in place that must be followed," she said. "We will deal with
that the first time the issue arises, but that's not something certainly
that's on my priority list."
Tracey
K. Deware has been appointed as the first female Chief Justice of the
Court of Queen's Bench in New Brunswick. She was a Court of Queen's
Bench judge in Moncton. (CBC)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed New Brunswick's first female Chief Justice to the Court of Queen's Bench.
Tracey
K. DeWare was a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick
for seven years and practised law in Moncton for 18 years.
Her appointment as chief justice comes after the retirement of Justice David Smith in March.
DeWare
is fluently bilingual and during her time as a judge of the Court of
Queen's Bench, she spent two years in Woodstock providing bilingual
judicial services to the jurisdictions of Woodstock and Fredericton. In
July 2016, DeWare was transferred to the jurisdiction of Moncton.
Federal Justice Minister David Lametti also appointed three people as judges of New Brunswick's Court of Queen's Bench.
Christa
Bourque, a partner at McInnes Cooper in Moncton, will fill the vacancy
in Moncton created by DeWare's appointment. She will serve in the family
division.
Arthur T. Doyle, a partner at Cox & Palmer in Saint
John, will replace Justice W.T. Grant, who had elected to become a
supernumerary judge in October 2018. He will serve in the trial
division.
Robert M. Dysart, a partner at Stewart McKelvey in
Moncton, will replace Justice S. McNally, who retired in April. He will
also serve in the trial division.
Liberals reshape judicial bench with appointments of women
Sean Fine
Justice Writer
The
Liberal government is reshaping the bench, appointing a substantial
majority of women, even though they make up a minority of applicants.
The approach is winning praise from some in the legal community, while
sparking concern about "quotas" from others.
A
year and a half after taking office, the government has appointed 56
judges, of whom 33 are women – 59 per cent. Yet women make up only 42
per cent of the 795 people who have applied to be judges since the
Liberals put in place a new appointment process in October.
Making
federal institutions more reflective of Canadian diversity has been a
theme of the Liberal government. Its cabinet has an equal number of men
and women, and it announced a plan last week to ensure more women and
minorities are named to federally funded research chair positions at
universities.
Justice
Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says a more diverse bench will build the
public's confidence in the judiciary. "We are beginning to demonstrate
how it is possible to have a bench that truly reflects the country we
live in," she said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail.
But
some in the legal community question the government's commitment to the
merit principle in appointing judges to federally appointed courts,
which includes the superior courts of provinces, the Federal Court and
Tax Court.
"I'm not really in favour
of a quota system – those are alarming discrepancies," Brenda Noble, a
veteran family lawyer in Saint John, said in an interview, referring to
the gap between female appointees and applicants. "You want to have the
best people in the job."
Ian
Holloway, the University of Calgary's law dean, said it is hard to fault
the government for increasing the proportion of women judges. Even so,
he said he worries the government is putting too much emphasis on
gender.
"In the old days, it was
offensive that people got judgeships just because they were Liberals or
Tories. That helped breed contempt for the judiciary. What we don't want
to do is replicate that in a different form."
But others say the government is doing the right thing.
Brenda
Hildebrandt, a Saskatoon lawyer and governing member of the
Saskatchewan Law Society, was pleased. "Do I think it's a good thing
women are more represented on the bench? Yes, I do, and I would hope
that those are qualified candidates and that the fact that they're women
is just one consideration, albeit important."
Rosemary
Cairns Way, a University of Ottawa law professor who has studied
diversity on federally appointed courts, supports the government's move
as a way of achieving gender parity. "When there is no shortage of
meritorious candidates, it seems to me the government can legitimately
choose judges who, in addition to being independently qualified, will
fulfill other institutional goals such as a more diverse and
gender-balanced bench."
When the
Liberals took office, 35 per cent of the federal judiciary (full-time
and semi-retired) were women, according to the Office of the
Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs. Given a similar time frame to
the Conservatives – a decade in office – the Liberals would ultimately
put women in the majority among the full-time federal judiciary if they
maintain the current ratio of appointments. The previous government
appointed more than 600 full-time federal judges, 30 per cent of them
women; women also made up 30 per cent of applicants during the
Conservatives' years in office.
The
government's emphasis on creating a bench more reflective of Canada's
diversity does not extend quite as much to racial minorities as it does
to women. However, there are at least seven visible minorities among the
new appointees – two of Indigenous ancestry, three of South Asian
background, one Japanese-Canadian and one Chinese-Canadian.
The
Liberals have authorized the judicial-affairs commissioner to collect,
for the first time, data on race, Indigenous status, gender identity,
sexual orientation and physical disability of applicants and appointees.
But the office would not release those numbers to The Globe and Mail
for this story, saying it is still preparing the data and it intends to
publish them soon.
The Globe asked
Ms. Wilson-Raybould whether she has a numerical target for the
appointment of women to the federal judiciary. She replied that the
government appoints judges based on merit and the needs of the court.
"In assessing merit, I do not discriminate against applicants based on
their gender, ethnic or cultural background," she said in an e-mail.
She
acknowledged that the pace of racial-minority appointments is lagging
and suggested the problem is a lack of minorities in the legal
profession.
"We know that more needs
to be done to increase the number of visible minorities in our law
schools. As that happens, the face of the profession will change and
evolve to better reflect the rest of the population."
Rob
Nicholson, a former Conservative justice minister, and the party's
current justice critic, said his chief concern is that qualified people
be appointed. "If it's 55-per-cent women and 45-per-cent men, as long as
we get qualified people for this," he said.
OTTAWA, June 22, 2012 — The Honourable Rob
Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and
Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointment:
The Honourable Tracey T. DeWare, a lawyer
with Stewart McKelvey, is appointed a judge of the Court of Queen's
Bench in Campbellton, to replace Madam Justice G.J. Young, who elected
to become a supernumerary judge as of February 25, 2012.
Madam Justice DeWare attended Bishop's University in Lennoxville,
Quebec from 1988 to 1991. She received a Bachelor of Laws from the
University of New Brunswick in 1994 and was admitted to the Bar of New
Brunswick the same year.
Madam Justice DeWare has been a lawyer with Stewart McKelvey since
2005. Previously she was with Murphy Collette Murphy from 1999 to 2005,
Wingate O'Neil DeWare from 1998 to 1999 and Bingham Brison Blair from
1994 to 1998. Her main area of practice was civil litigation.
Madam Justice DeWare has been a member of the Insurance Management
Committee of the Law Society of New Brunswick since 2010 and a
supplementary member of the New Brunswick Securities Commission since
2011. She has been a member of the Review Tribunal of the Office of the
Commissioner of Review Tribunals Canada Pension Plan/Old Age Security
since 2010. She has been a member of L'Association des juristes d'expression française du Nouveau-Brunswick
since 2006 and the Canadian Bar Association since 2009. She was chair
of the Editorial Board of the Solicitor Journal from 2006 to 2010 and is
a past-president and treasurer of the Moncton Area Lawyers'
Association.
She is an active volunteer in the community.
This appointment is effective immediately.
-30-
Ref.:
Julie Di Mambro
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Justice
613-992-4621
Media Relations
Department of Justice
613-957-4207
Former law society president appointed to N.B. Court of Queen’s Bench
Monday, November 12, 2018 @ 3:03 PM | By John Chunn
On Nov. 9 the federal Department of Justice announced that Marie-Claude Bélanger-Richard, a partner at Droit Veritas Law,
has been appointed a judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench of New
Brunswick, Family Division, in Saint John. She replaces Justice R.L. Tuck, who passed away on Jan. 27, 2018.
Justice
Bélanger-Richard obtained an LL.B. from the Université de Moncton in
1985. She was called to the New Brunswick bar in 1986.
Justice
Bélanger-Richard began her career as a researcher for the chief justice
of the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick. She then taught in the
Faculty of Law at the Université de Moncton and served as the assistant
director of the Centre international de la common law en français.
Justice Bélanger-Richard joined the firm of Stewart McKelvey
in 1992, practising mainly in the fields of civil litigation, family
law and insurance law. In April 2016, she joined Droit Veritas Law,
where she worked exclusively in family law.
In 2003, Justice
Bélanger-Richard was appointed Queen’s Counsel. Since 2011, she has been
recognized each year for her professional excellence by being named to
the “Best Lawyers” ranking in family law.
Justice
Bélanger‑Richard has often appeared before the Court of Appeal of New
Brunswick and the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick.
Justice
Bélanger-Richard has always been a very active member of various
professional associations in the legal field. In particular, she was a
member of the New Brunswick Council of the Canadian Bar Association, the
Council of the Law Society of New Brunswick and the Board of the
Federation of Law Societies of Canada, serving as a member and as chair
of several committees within these associations.
In 2010, Justice
Bélanger‑Richard became the first francophone woman to assume the
presidency of the Law Society of New Brunswick and, in 2013, was elected
president of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.
New chief judge’s personal ties prompt scrutiny of N.B. appointment process
Friday, April 28, 2017 @ 7:58 PM | By Cristin Schmitz
New Brunswick won praise this week for achieving gender parity on
its provincial court, but the impending promotion to chief judge of a
jurist with close friendship ties to the province’s
Chief David Smith challenged new transfer rules in December. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
A
feud has erupted within the judicial ranks of New Brunswick's Court of
Queen's Bench, with a sitting judge accusing his own chief justice of
breaking the law and calling on him to resign.
In a private letter
circulated to fellow judges, Justice George Rideout said David Smith
should step down over his recent transfer of another judge from Saint
John to Fredericton.
Rideout,
a former Liberal MP who has sat on the court for two decades, said he
was "shocked" to learn of Smith's recent transfer of Justice Tom
Christie and calls the move "contrary to existing law."
"You
have said to our community that if you feel a provincial law is wrong,
it is appropriate to disregard the law and proceed contrary to the law
as if the law was a nullity," Rideout told Smith in the one-page letter
obtained by CBC News.
"That, in my opinion, is a most improper
message or example for a Chief Justice to send," it continues.
"It puts
all Court of Queen's Bench judges in a difficult position when enforcing
laws which have been duly enacted."
Justice
George Rideout called on Chief Justice David Smith to resign over
challenging changes to judge transfer rules in the Judicature Act. (Submitted)
New rule
The
section of the Judicature Act that Rideout accuses Smith of breaching
was added by Premier Brian Gallant's Liberal government last May. It
requires Smith to get the consent of the justice minister before he
moves a judge.
Smith transferred Christie in December without that consent.
Before the change, Smith had the power to unilaterally transfer judges without consulting anyone.
Smith
spoke out publicly against the change when it was being debated, saying
giving politicians a veto over his transfers was unconstitutional
because it violated judicial independence.
Rideout said in his letter, dated Dec. 11, that he was writing "with a heavy heart."
Justice
Thomas Christie recused himself from hearing a case against the
province after his request for a transfer was not approved. (Pro Bono Students Canada)
The
extraordinary critique is addressed to Smith and is copied to Rideout's
29 fellow justices on the Court of Queen's Bench. Smith is effectively
their supervisor, deciding which cases are assigned to which judges.
In
the letter, Rideout called Smith's transfer of Christie "a serious and
grievous error in the administration of your duties" and concluded by
saying, "Given what has occurred, I believe you have no choice but to
step down as Chief Justice.
Smith refused to comment in an email
to CBC News. "It is my practice to maintain confidentiality on
correspondence to and from members of the court," he wrote.
Minister refusal
Last
fall, Smith sought Justice Minister Denis Landry's consent to transfer
Christie from Saint John to Fredericton, where he lives.
Christie
then recused himself from hearing a lawsuit against the province, ruling
he could not be objective and independent because of the minister's
role in where he would work.
A few weeks later, with no decision from Landry on whether to approve the move, Smith transferred Christie anyway.
Rideout's
career and Smith's tenure as chief justice are linked. Rideout, a
former Liberal MP, was appointed a judge the same day Smith was
appointed chief justice. Rideout filled the vacancy left by Smith's
promotion.
Justice Minister Denis Landry. (CBC)
In
fact, one of Smith's first duties as chief justice, the day after he
was sworn in to the position in April 1998, was to swear in Rideout.
The
Gallant government argued the changes to the Judicature Act would bring
it in line with a similar rule on the transfer of provincial court
judges and with laws in other provinces.
The Liberals said they
wanted to stop what Gallant called "a revolving door" for Court of
Queen's Bench judges in small-town courthouses. They said Smith often
quickly transferred the federally-appointed judges to larger cities,
creating too much turnover.
Smith told reporters last year all his
transfers were "as a result of a vacancy, and as a result of a request
by a judge. There was never a judge moved that hadn't made a request to
make that move."
He called the amendments to the Judicature Act "a deliberate infringement of judicial independence."
In December, Gallant said officials were reviewing Smith's transfer of Christie to decide if the province should respond.
"I
know there are certainly some concerns and people are looking into it,"
he said. "We did pass a law that we think should be respected. Now
whether it was or it wasn't, I'll allow others to continue their
analysis to see exactly what happened and what that means."
The
Department of Justice and Public Safety said Thursday it had "no
updates" on that analysis and nothing to say on Rideout's letter.
"The provincial government has no comment on correspondence between two judges," spokesperson Danielle Elliot said in an email.
Jacques
Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick
since 2000. Raised in Moncton, he also produces the CBC political
podcast Spin Reduxit.
Tracey
K. Deware has been appointed as the first female Chief Justice of the
Court of Queen's Bench in New Brunswick. She was a Court of Queen's
Bench judge in Moncton. (CBC)
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