Judge stepping down after 30 years on bench
Cops, lawyers, crooks all just people, says Judge Gail Sinclair, who retires in March
In his line of work, retiring provincial court Judge Gail Sinclair didn’t deal with lawyers, cops, criminals or the media. He worked with people. “I can sit on the curb and drink cheap wine out of a paper bag with the street folks, which I’ve done, or I can go to high tea with the Queen, but I haven’t been invited. But I mean, they’re all people, right?” Sinclair said in an interview prior to his upcoming retirement after 30 years in the provincial judge’s chair in Penticton and surrounding area.
Sinclair noted that what he said to the media during Thursday’s scrum was his own opinion, not that of the courts.
Born in Cranbrook and a law school graduate from UBC in Vancouver, Sinclair took the judge’s chair in Penticton in 1988 after 15 years of practising law.
“It’s a different job today than it was 30 years ago. The Charter (of Rights and Freedoms) was in its infancy then, and for the (first) few years you didn’t see a lot of that stuff. Now that’s all you see, of course. The facts have nothing to do with it,” Sinclair said, referencing an abundance of charter applications in court cases these days.
In a position to offer a clear, day-today perspective on the rise and fall in crime in Penticton over the last three decades, Sinclair said the recent notion that Penticton has been taken over by crime is untrue.
“I used to say if there wasn’t booze I wouldn’t have a job. Literally, it’s been if there wasn’t those damn hard drugs, I wouldn’t have a job. Because, remember, I don’t see 98 per cent of people. I see the two per cent that are drug addicted, mentally ill, disadvantaged,” Sinclair said.
Often when he finds himself reading pre-sentence reports outlining the life and circumstances of a convicted criminal, compiled prior to handing down a sentence, he sees their activity as the end result of a tumultuous past.
“You just know from what you’re reading that this person didn’t have a chance right out of the womb. Just, no chance. Those are the people I see, but they’re all people. That’s what you’ve got to remember. That I try to remember.”
It all comes back to his judicial philosophy, dealing with people.
“We’re all just folks. I’m a guy with a job. That’s the way I’ve approached. If I need a plumber, I’m phoning one because I don’t know bugger all about it,” Sinclair said. “We’ve all got our little pigeon holes.”
He reads the news in print form and is well aware of opinion sections. Sinclair summarized the comments from the public surrounding his and other court decisions as “water off a duck’s back.”
“How many thousands of cases I’ve done. I couldn’t begin to count. If I went home and worried about them, I’d be in the looney bin. I do my best at the time and walk away from it. I don’t take it home,” Sinclair said.
He also commented on the countless letters to the editor and social media comments (noting he doesn’t participate in social media, but his wife does) that say judges are too lenient in Penticton and surrounding areas.
“So what? You’re entitled to your opinion,” Sinclair said.
He does believe the job is sometimes misunderstood and that U.S. influence is creeping into the Canadian court system.
“I’ve got to do what the higher courts tell me to do, right? I’m on the bottom rung of the ladder here, don’t forget. Well, almost,” Sinclair said with a smile.
“The Supreme Court, Court of Appeal (they) tell me what to do. If I whack somebody too much, they’re just going to fix it anyway. I’m not going to pander to the public opinion about that stuff. I’m going to do it right. They may not think it’s right. Oftentimes, they don’t.”
He said the years he spent in the chair have given him the benefit of getting to know the people he sees coming through the court system, noting he can even trace the family lineage, adjudicating someone’s grandfather, father and son sometimes.
“I consider myself very lucky that I’ve been here as long as I have because I know the players. I know who the bad asses are and who are people just, for whatever reason, doing stupid stuff,” Sinclair said.
He doesn’t have a worst, most memorable or funniest case upon recollection.
“Everybody asks me that and I just can’t think of any that come to the forefront,” Sinclair said.
As far as the justice system in Penticton is concerned, despite public opinion, he wouldn’t change a thing.
“We’re all victims of crime sometime. I came out, about six months ago, out the back to get in my car and there’s my tail light shattered and plastic on the ground. Cost me $300. I think some bozo was just walking up the alley, drunk or high or something, and gave it a boot,” Sinclair said.
During retirement, he will be looking to get his golf game back and read, fittingly, a few John Grisham crime novels. He also keeps busy with his family and grandchildren.
“What else am I going to do? I really don’t know yet,” Sinclair said. “I’m going to figure it out. More travel.”
Sinclair said he will miss donning his judge’s robes.
“I’m going to miss being part of something because on the 30th day of March, I’m just going to be another old fart, right? Not the judge anymore, just the old fart. I’ve still got to come to terms with that. I’m going to be 70 years old in May. I don’t want to die in here,” Sinclair said with a laugh.