Judicial council clears Toews

WINNIPEG — The Canadian Judicial Council has rejected complaints that former federal cabinet minister Vic Toews, who is now a Manitoba judge, is unfit to remain on the bench after violating the Conflict of Interest Act.

The council said Thursday the two complaints were reviewed by Justice Christopher Hinkson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, who found nothing that would warrant Toews’ removal.

“Chief Justice Hinkson notes that the [federal ethics] commissioner did not make any findings that put into question the integrity, good faith or credibility of Justice Toews,” the council said in a statement.

Federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson ruled in April that Toews violated the Conflict of Interest Act when he received money from two Manitoba First Nations for consulting services shortly after leaving federal office in 2013.

Toews was appointed to the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench in 2014.

Dawson said Toews broke a two-year cooling-off period required under law in one case involving the Norway House Cree Nation.

In the other, she said Toews provided strategic advice for the Peguis First Nation about the transfer of military land, even though he had been involved with the same file as a minister.

Toews then filed an appeal of Dawson’s decision.