JP faces hearing over remarks
Discipline panel to take place into comments about Indigenous people
A Kenora justice of the peace is facing a public discipline hearing over remarks he made in court that have been described as racist toward Indigenous people, on top of other allegations of bad courtroom behaviour.
As the Star first reported last year, Justice of the Peace Robert McNally was the subject of at least two complaints over a comment he made to lawyer Shannon McDunnough, who is Mi’kmaq, in bail court in August 2017.
The JP joked that nobody knew who late British comedian Benny Hill was. When McDunnough replied that she did, McNally responded, “Your ancestors probably scalped him or something,” according to a court transcript.
The Justices of the Peace Review Council, the independent body tasked with investigating and disciplining JPs, has announced that McNally will face ahearing in Toronto in January.
The council said it received three complaints about the justice of the peace.
Aside from the comment he made to McDunnough, McNally responded to an unidentified male in a different bail court proceeding in August 2017 with: “I’m keeping my mouth shut on that one. That’s some kind of a Indigenous thing?” according to a transcript.
“You made comments that appeared to reflect pre-conceived notions about First Nations persons and that could be perceived as racist, ridiculing or mocking toward First Nations persons in a manner that suggests cultural insensitivity,” says the notice of hearing from the review council, laying out the allegations of judicial misconduct against McNally.
The allegations have not been proven.
“As this matter is now before the council for a hearing, we can’t comment on the allegations or evidence,” McNally’s lawyer, Howard Rubel, told the Star. “But His Worship is overwhelmed by, and very grateful for, the strong outpouring of support from so many members of the community where he sits, and the court participants he has worked with on a daily basis.”
Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services, McDunnough’s employer, and Grand Council Treaty No. 3, which represents 28 First Nations communities in northwestern Ontario and Manitoba, filed a joint complaint last year over McNally’s remarks.
The Criminal Lawyers’ Asso- ciation also filed a complaint last year, calling McNally’s comment to McDunnough “culturally insensitive, racist and entirely inappropriate.”
The review council has also accused McNally of failing to ensure accused persons were afforded due process, including in two cases that involved McDunnough when she was acting as duty counsel, a legalaid funded lawyer who can appear for people who are unrepresented.
McNally was appointed by the NDP government in 1993.