Federal court says Alberta judge will not hear cases 'pending further review'
The Canadian Judicial Council is investigating Camp's conduct of a trial he heard last year when he was a provincial court judge in Alberta.
Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald
Federal Court Justice Robin Camp will not be assigned any cases as the Canadian Judicial Council continues its investigation into comments he made to a female complainant in a sexual assault trial in Calgary provincial court nearly 18 months ago.
Camp questioned the 19-year-old woman while she was on the witness stand, asking: "When your ankles were held together by your jeans, your skinny jeans, why couldn't you just keep your knees together?"
Camp later acquitted the accused but that decision was overturned and a new trial was ordered last month by the Alberta Court of Appeal.
"In response to recent queries on this subject, the Chief Justice has advised me that he has informed Justice Camp that his priority is to follow a comprehensive program of gender sensitivity counselling and therefore he will not be sitting again until further notice," Andrew Baumberg, legal counsel for the Federal Court of Canada, said in a release Wednesday.
Alice Woolley, University of Calgary law professor and associate dean of academic in the law faculty, was one of four professors to file a complaint with the judicial council following the appellate court's decision. They all said Camp should be removed from the bench for his actions.
"I would say that, given the seriousness of the allegations and the ongoing Canadian Judicial Council investigation, this is an appropriate response from the court," Woolley said on Wednesday.
"I didn't see anything in the entire transcript that explains or excuses any of it. He doesn't in any way backtrack from what he said (to the complainant)."
In a letter to the judicial counsel, Woolley and assistant professor Elaine Craig said that while the protection of judicial independence requires caution in criticizing judges, this case demands action.
"The Canadian Judicial Council is rightly cautious about sanctioning judges for what they say in particular cases," the professors wrote.
"That said, there is a significant public interest in raising awareness about judicial attitudes and perspectives that are wildly out of sync with modern thinking and dramatically inconsistent with the values reflected in laws addressing problems such as sexual violence."
Camp, who was appointed to the Federal Court on June 26, 2015, by then Minister of Justice and Attorney General Peter MacKay, made the comments a year earlier — on June 5, 2014.
"We are satisfied that the trial judge's comments throughout the proceedings and in his reasons give rise to doubts about the trial judge's understanding of the law governing sexual assaults and, in particular, the meaning of consent and restrictions on evidence of the complaint's sexual activity," wrote the Alberta Court of Appeal.
"We are also persuaded that sexual stereotypes and stereotypical myths, which have long since been discredited, may have found their way into the trial judge's judgment. There were also instances where the trial judge misapprehended the evidence."
Camp apologized shortly after the complaint was filed and the Judicial Council began its investigation.
Frank Addario, Camp's Toronto-based lawyer, said in a written statement issued Wednesday that while it is "the right of everyone in the Canadian legal community to insist on high standards in the administration of justice," he is also "troubled by the public campaign for Justice Camp's removal."
"He cannot defend himself or rebut these attacks in the media," Addario wrote.
"This is why professional conduct rules across Canada place 'special responsibility' on lawyers criticizing judges."
Addario said that when the Crown alleged during the appeal that Justice Camp displayed bias at trial, no one was present to challenge the accuracy of these claims.
"The Court of Appeal heard only the Crown's argument and read only "portions" of the trial transcript.
"For these reasons, I encourage members of the legal community to resist a 'rush to judgment' until all the relevant information has been made available to the Canadian Judicial Council, to ensure the Council is given the respect and freedom from public pressure its role and functions require."
The Canadian Judicial Council said previously it could take three to six months or even more to complete its review.
dslade@calgaryherald.com
Twitter.com/heraldcourt
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