Appeal of complaints against judge denied

Judge John Joy will be investigated by a tribunal for alleged disparaging comments about the justice system in Labrador

An appeal of complaints against provincial court Judge John Joy has been dismissed, as a three-and-a-half-year wait for a hearing on the complaints continues.

It is alleged that Joy authored a memo on March 20, 2014, wherein “inappropriate comments respecting the administration of justice in Labrador” were made and sent to a Crown attorney. Similar comments were also allegedly made in open court by Joy on or around Feb. 28, 2014.

It’s alleged the comments violated the judicial code of ethics.

A tribunal was appointed the hear the complaints against Joy shortly after the complaints were made.

In advance of the hearings on the complaints, which are expected in January 2019, Joy filed four procedural applications, the fourth of which questioned whether the code of ethics were legally valid or applicable to Joy in the specific case before the tribunal.

The tribunal decided the code of conduct was not applicable, but the rules found in Ethical Principles for Judges used by the Canadian Judicial Council did apply.

Justice James Adams was asked to review the decision of the tribunal.

Adams ruled that since the hearings for the initial complaints have not yet occurred and Joy would still be able to appeal the decision of the tribunal on the complaints, there would be “no real risk of prejudice to Judge Joy that might lead to an injustice.”

With that, Joy will wait for January to determine whether any reprimand is recommended for his alleged comments.