Pursuant to s. 11(15) of the Justices of the Peace Act, R.S.O. 1990, C. J.4 (the “Act”), the Justices of the Peace Review Council (the “Council”) held a formal hearing into a complaint about the conduct of Justice of the Peace Margot McLeod of the Ontario Court of Justice.
The Hearing Panel considered whether the alleged conduct, as summarized below and set out more fully in the Notice of Hearing, occurred and constituted judicial misconduct:
Justice of the Peace McLeod was required to attend mentorship meetings with a mentor pursuant to an order that a hearing panel of the Justices of the Peace Review Council made after a public hearing into allegations of judicial misconduct. The hearing panel found that Justice of the Peace McLeod had engaged in multiple instances of judicial misconduct.
At one of the mentorship meetings, which were held with a justice of the peace mentor, Justice of the Peace McLeod was visibly impaired. Justice of the Peace McLeod informed her mentor that she was heavily medicated. At the following mentorship meeting, Justice of the Peace McLeod informed her mentor that she had delivered one or two bail decisions while impaired by medication. Justice of the Peace McLeod indicated to her mentor that she did not see any issue with delivering a bail decision while in an impaired state. Justice of the Peace McLeod's actions and subsequent lack of insight demonstrate a lack of professionalism, judgment, integrity, decorum, and propriety, and a failure to responsibly and meaningfully undertake the remedial measures imposed by the Council in its prior order.
Current Status:
On January 23, 2024, the Hearing Panel released its decision on Justice of the Peace McLeod’s request for compensation for her legal costs incurred in respect of the investigation of this complaint and the hearing. Pursuant to ss.11.1(17) and (17.1) of the Justices of the Peace Act, the Hearing Panel unanimously recommended that Justice of the Peace McLeod should be compensated for her legal costs in the amount of $4,000, inclusive of HST and disbursements, for her legal costs incurred at the investigation stage of the complaints process and $93,715.99, inclusive of HST and disbursements, for her legal fees incurred at the hearing stage.
Background:
The decision to order a hearing was taken following the investigation of the complaint in accordance with the Council’s complaints process. A three-person complaints committee, consisting of a judge, a justice of the peace, and a community or lawyer member, investigated the complaint and ordered that a formal hearing be held.
Pursuant to s. 11.1(1) of the Act, the Honourable Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve, Chair of the Council, established a Hearing Panel of members of the Council consisting of a judge who shall chair the panel, a justice of the peace, and a community member.
Pursuant to s. 11.1(10), the hearing panel may dismiss the complaint, with or without a finding that it is unfounded, or if it upholds the complaint, it may decide upon any of the following dispositions singly or in combination:
- warn the justice of the peace;
- reprimand the justice of the peace;
- order the justice of the peace to apologize to the complainant or to any other person;
- order the justice of the peace to take specified measures such as receiving education or treatment, as a condition of continuing to sit as a justice of the peace;
- suspend the justice of the peace with pay, for any period; or,
- suspend the justice of the peace without pay, but with benefits, for a period up to thirty days.
The hearing panel may also make a recommendation to the Attorney General that the justice of the peace be removed from office. This disposition cannot be combined with any other disposition.
Under s. 11.2(1) of the Act, a justice of the peace may be removed from office only by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
Pursuant to s. 11(11)(a) of the Act, the complaints committee made an interim recommendation to the Regional Senior Justice that Her Worship McLeod be unassigned from judicial duties, pending the final disposition of the complaint. The interim recommendation was accepted, and Her Worship has been unassigned from judicial duties pending the final disposition of the complaint.
On September 12, 2022, at 8:00 a.m., the Hearing Panel convened with counsel by Zoom for an initial appearance. Hearing dates were set for April 24, 25, 26, and 27, 2023.
On October 5, 2022, the Hearing Panel vacated the hearing dates that were originally set for April 24, 25, 26 and 27, due to the unavailability of a witness to be called by Presenting Counsel. The hearing was rescheduled for June 19, 20, 21, and 22, 2023 at Veritext Legal Solutions, located at 77 King Street West, Toronto.
Evidence in the hearing commenced on June 19, 2023. Following opening submissions by Presenting Counsel and counsel for Her Worship, Presenting Counsel called Her Worship McLeod's assigned mentor, Justice of the Peace Kathleen Bryant, as a witness. Justice of the Peace Bryant was examined in chief and cross-examined. Also on June 19, 2023, counsel for Her Worship called Justice of the Peace Margot McLeod as a witness to begin her testimony. The matter was adjourned to June 20, 2023, at which time Her Worship's examination-in-chief continued. She was then cross-examined by Presenting Counsel.
The parties provided oral submissions to the hearing panel on June 20, 2023 on the issue of whether Justice of the Peace McLeod engaged in judicial misconduct. The hearing panel reserved its decision, and the hearing dates of June 21 and June 22, 2023 were vacated.
On November 20, 2023, the Hearing Panel released Reasons for Decision dismissing the complaint against Justice of the Peace McLeod. In its unanimous decision, the Hearing Panel dismissed the complaint on the basis that the first allegation did not support a finding of judicial misconduct and the remaining allegations had not been proven on a balance of probabilities.
In particular, while the Panel found that Justice of the Peace McLeod was impaired by prescription medication during her mentorship meeting with Justice of the Peace Bryant on July 13, 2021, it concluded that the evidence did not establish that her conduct was incompatible with judicial office. In arriving at this conclusion, the Panel considered that Justice of the Peace McLeod did not attend to any court commitments that day and that she attended the mentorship meeting on July 13 remotely. As such, she did not put herself or anyone else at risk by driving to the courthouse, presiding over court matters or rendering any judicial decisions. Accordingly, the Panel held that the circumstances surrounding the mentoring meeting on July 13, 2021 would not leave a reasonable and informed person with the impression that Justice of the Peace McLeod acted in a manner that adversely impacted the integrity of the judiciary, or that undermined public confidence in the justice of the peace's ability to perform the duties of her office.
With respect to the allegation that Justice of the Peace McLeod presided in court or rendered bail decisions while impaired, the Panel accepted the uncontradicted evidence of Justice of the Peace McLeod that she had stopped taking prescription medication on the evening before she presided in bail court and rendered two bail decisions. The Panel also found that the record of the bail proceedings over which the justice of the peace presided on the dates in question did not disclose any irregularities in her conduct, nor were any conduct concerns raised by any of the parties that appeared before her. Accordingly, the Hearing Panel concluded that Presenting Counsel had failed to establish this allegation on a balance of probabilities.
With respect to the allegation that the present complaint against Justice of the Peace McLeod raised similar allegations concerning her professional judgment, integrity and manner of communication as raised in a 2021 hearing involving Her Worship, the Hearing Panel found that, having regard to the findings related to the other allegations, this allegation was not established on a balance of probabilities.
Pursuant to ss.11.1(17) of the Justices of the Peace Act, the Panel was required to consider whether Justice of the Peace should be compensated, in whole or in part, for her legal costs in connection with the investigation of this complaint and the hearing. The parties were afforded an opportunity to present submissions on compensation in writing.
Presenting Counsel was Linda Rothstein and Mannu Chowdhury, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
Counsel for Her Worship McLeod was Paul Stern and Margot Davies, Stern Landesman Clark LLP
For general information, email: Council_Information@ontario.ca