Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur acknowledges that her ministry has no centralized method for tracking complaints against misbehaving prosecutors.
Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General has no idea how many complaints have been lodged against its nearly one thousand prosecutors from across the province, or how many have been disciplined for misconduct in recent years.
The lack of organized, accountable oversight, legal observers say, marks a “failure” by the government to properly scrutinize complaints against its Crown attorneys: public servants responsible for making important decisions such as who to prosecute for crimes and recommending sentences for those found guilty.
“Only with proper oversight can the public have confidence in our justice system and those who administer it,” Anthony Moustacalis, president of the Criminal Lawyers Association, said in a statement to the Star.
An ongoing Star investigation has discovered cases where Crown attorneys were the focus of sexual harassment complaints and other accusations of misbehavior. The Star’s stories were raised in the provincial legislature, and Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur was asked to provide an accounting of all complaints against Crowns and their outcome.
Despite not having centralized information on internal complaints and their outcomes, Meilleur wrote that Crowns are held to the “highest standard” and “are expected to conduct themselves professionally and fairly at all times” in accordance with Crown policy and professional conduct rules dictated by the Law Society, the independent body that oversees all lawyers.
Meilleur’s letter says complaints to her ministry from staff or the public against prosecutors are dealt with by their direct superiors — either the head Crowns in their local office or a regional director.
“After a review, if the conduct falls short of expected standards, appropriate remedial or disciplinary action will be considered,” says the response.
Jones said the government is either not being honest about not having the numbers, or — what she said would actually be “more disturbing” — they don’t know how many complaints there have been.
Jones filed the order paper after hearing about a Brampton Crown attorney who left his job in 2012 amid sexual harassment allegations.
A Star investigation found John Raftery was the subject of a group sexual harassment complaint while employed at the Brampton Crown office and received a hefty payment (double his annual salary, or nearly $370,000) after he suddenly left his job.
Raftery has declined to comment about the payout or the allegations of harassment during his time as a Crown.
In January, the former Crown-turned-defence lawyer was charged with assault and criminal harassment of two young women who worked at a Mississauga grocery store. Those charges were dropped in October after the Crown said there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
That wasn’t the only recent case involving alleged misbehaviour by prosecutors.
In February, Toronto police charged a Scarborough Crown attorney with assault causing bodily harm after a late-night pub fight with a colleague. The charges were dropped in June, and the prosecutor entered into a peace bond stipulating he would not return to the pub for a year.
In April, another Scarborough Crown attorney was accused of threatening a youth witness outside a courtroom, putting the future of a schoolyard assault trial in jeopardy. A judge later ruled his conduct was “unprofessional,” “crude” and “reprehensible,” but did not abuse the court process.
The Star has filed an access-to-information request, asking for any records related to alleged prosecutorial wrongdoing. The ministry denied the request, citing labour relations issues and solicitor-client privilege. An appeal to the province’s information and privacy commissioner was also denied.
One Crown attorney, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the response from the ministry is unacceptable.
Borden Ladner Gervais, while they are to be commended on this very charitable act, might like to consider making a name for themselves in dealing with those who bring discredit to the Legal Profession, undermine the Rule of Law and bring the administration of justice into ill repute.
A bedtime story for lawyers about Vivian Lee and Robie Stewart Loomer of Ottawa.
of Service that he had PERSONALLY served the documents on the Family Law office in Ottawa when he had not.
Robie Stewart Loomer however has a long reputation for committing perjury on his own affidavits of service and encouraging his clients to do the same and a host of other criminal offences.
who was yet another witness. Court staff joke about him and say "Robie Loomer does that all the time, he is famous for it".
Robie Stewart Loomer is also notorious for the dirtiest crimes anyone can commit anywhere in the world. As a lawyer with all the right contacts, from Crown's thru to the Attorney General, he has total immunity from Criminal and or Civil prosecution.
This underbelly of the legal profession, telephones the Ottawa Police and the CAS and falsely claims he has evidence that fathers have records as pedophiles without a shred of evidence. The object was to remove a child from a full time father and a victim of what lawyers referred to as the worst case of domestic violence they had ever seen, to place with the child with the "mother's Aid Society" who would predictably tell a judge to give them an order for custody of a child/ren for the mother, exparte, without a hearing or notice.
In this case, the Ottawa Police did open a case regarding Perjury by Robie Stewart Loomer and refused to either investigate or lay charges against Robie Stewart Loomer.
An information charging Robie Stewart Loomer with Perjury reached the Ontario Court of IN-Justice by way of a "Private Prosecution" under S.507 of the Criminal Code.