Public should help pay ex-JP’s legal bill: panel

Former justice of the peace Robert Whittaker quit before disciplinary hearing began

The public should pick up most of a former Toronto justice of the peace’s $6,500 legal tab for his disciplinary proceedings, a review panel has recommended to the Attorney General.

Robert Whittaker, who was the subject of six complaints for comments he allegedly made to defendants in court between 2013 and 2014, retired before his actual discipline hearing was set to begin on March 25. The hearing was then scrapped.

Still, a three-member panel of the Justices of the Peace Review Council — comprised of an Ontario Court judge, a justice of the peace and a member of the public — recommended that the public cover about $4,700 in legal costs.

Whittaker’s lawyer, Brian Irvine, declined to comment.

In their reasons for recommending partial compensation, the panel said there should be some recognition that costs were saved by Whittaker’s retirement.

They also found that a “reasonable person” would understand the principle that justices of the peace should “be fairly and adequately represented at judicial disciplinary hearings.”

But they also highlighted that Whittaker could have retired much earlier, and was therefore not entitled to have his full legal bill covered. He submitted his letter of retirement on Jan. 28, according to the panel, but postdated his retirement to March 15, just 10 days before the hearing was set to begin.

“Members of the public could perceive that step as an attempt to manipulate the hearing process,” the panel wrote.

Lawyers Marie Henein and Chris- tine Mainville, whom the panel tasked with presenting the case against Whittaker, pointed out in their submissions that Whittaker was still entitled to a salary, benefits and to accumulate a pension up until his retirement date.

Appointed to the bench in 1998 by the provincial government, Whittaker was receiving a $122,000 annual salary.

Progressive Conservative justice critic Sylvia Jones reiterated that justices of the peace who do not go ahead with a discipline hearing should not be compensated.

“I think the whole process needs to be rejigged,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur said she is reviewing the recommendation and declined to comment further.

According to transcripts obtained by the Star earlier this year, Whittaker told a man who identified as Somali:

“You seem to be immersing yourself in the Somali community which may or may not have the same standards of Canadians, the lifestyle or Criminal Code or laws of this country, have. Unfortunately, sir, you’re in the country of Canada. You have to live by our laws.”

In another case, the transcripts say he made comments about mental health that the duty counsel told him were “profoundly” disrespectful, while in another instance, he openly wondered whether a woman with ulcerated colitis should be allowed to drive a car.

“I think the whole process needs to be rejigged.” SYLVIA JONES PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE JUSTICE CRITIC