JUDGE ASKS COURT TO HALT HEARINGS OVER LAND DISPUTE

A judge is asking the Federal Court of Canada to halt disciplinary proceedings related to his involvement in an indigenous land-claim settlement where his family owns a cottage. Ontario Superior Court Justice Frank Newbould wants the court to prohibit the Canadian Judicial Council from taking further steps concerning complaints about his participation in the land dispute. Newbould says a judicial council review panel lacked the authority to order an inquiry after the matter was closed two years earlier. His job could hang in the balance, though it might prove moot since he plans to retire June 1. It all began in late August 2014 when the judicial council received complaints about Newbould’s involvement in a public consultation on the proposed settlement of a Saugeen First Nation land claim with respect to the resort town of Sauble Beach, Ont. Newbould’s family has owned a cottage property there for nearly a century.