‘Knees together’ judge should lose job, says judicial panel

CALGARY — A Canadian Judicial Council committee says a judge’s apology for asking a sexual assault complainant why she couldn’t keep her knees together doesn’t offset the damage done and Robin Camp should lose his job.

“We conclude that Justice Camp’s conduct is so manifestly and profoundly destructive of the concept of the impartiality, integrity and independence of the judicial role that public confidence is sufficiently undermined to render the judge incapable of executing the judicial office,” the five-member panel wrote in a unanimous decision released Wednesday.

Court transcripts show Camp called the complainant, an indigenous woman who was 19 years old and homeless at the time of the alleged assault, “the accused” throughout the trial — a phrase he repeated during a September judicial council disciplinary hearing before quickly correcting himself.

He also told the young woman “pain and sex sometimes go together.”

Camp acquitted Alexander Wagar in the 2014 trial, but the verdict was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered. Testimony in the retrial wrapped up earlier this month.

Camp was a provincial court judge in Calgary during the initial Wagar trial, but he was promoted to the Federal Court the following year.

The committee said Camp “relied on discredited myths and stereotypes about women and victimblaming during the trial and in his reasons for judgment.”

Camp has 30 days to make a written submission to the Canadian Judicial Council, said executive director Norman Sabourin. After that, the council will make a recommendation to Federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Sabourin said he’s optimistic a recommendation will be on WilsonRaybould’s desk in January. A judge may only be removed from office by joint resolution of Parliament.

Camp declined to comment on Wednesday, but his lawyer, Frank Addario, said Camp “is grateful to the inquiry committee for its thorough consideration of the evidence and his submissions.”

At his disciplinary hearing in September, Camp apologized for what he called his rude and insulting attitude toward the complainant.

“I was not the good judge I thought I was,” Camp said. “Canadians deserve more from their judges.”

The committee heard that Camp had undergone sensitivity training and counselling with a superior court judge, a psychologist and an expert in sexual assault law.