Dismiss Robin Camp now.

  • September 20, 2016
  • Op-Ed

Lady Justice is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems.  Her attributes are a blindfold, a balance and a sword… Since the 15th century, Lady Justice has often been depicted wearing a blindfold. The blindfold represents objectivity, in that justice is or should be meted out objectively, without fear or favour, regardless of money, wealth, fame, power, or identity; blind justice and impartiality.“  - Wikipedia

 Lady Justice

Scales of Justice, Vancouver Law Courts. The blindfolded Lady Justice symbolizes the impartial manner in which our laws are administered: blind to all considerations but the facts

Source: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/discover/section-10.asp

Every single person walking through every single court room in every single courthouse across the entire country deserves at the very least the expectation that upon entry into chambers that person will be treated fairly and equally to everyone else.

That expectation is not met in reality, to the detriment of our court systems and ourselves.  Privilege is not always stripped from the powerful.  Race taints the outcome of trials, leaving an entire group of people disproportionally sent to prison

Let me be clear - every single person has a stake in this.  You, the reader, may find yourself in court tomorrow.  You may be accused of a crime.  You may have even performed a crime, minor as it may be - speeding, littering, smoking less than 5 metres from a doorway.  Not everything will land you in court, but some things most certainly will.  Or maybe you haven’t been caught in a crime, but you’re getting divorced from your former spouse.  Or your parent passed away.  Or you were simply a witness to an event someone found noteworthy.  Or you did literally nothing

You are involved.  Every single one of us needs to care about this.  Right now it is probably only theoretical that your life and well-being are at stake.  For a few of us, this literally matters at this exact moment.  The line between being pulled into court could be as fine as a police officer’s mood.

That is why everyone deserves to be treated fairly in court.

Federal Court Justice Robin Camp has demonstrated how he treats people walking through the doors of his court room

No, he has not treated everyone in the same way that he treated that one particular witness in his court room.  The premise of Lady Justice is that he will do so.

In Mr. Camp’s case, treating every person in his court room sinks to the putrid depths of the lowest common denominator.  Every witness becomes “The Accused.“  Everyone witness under the microscope to examine every misdeed.  Pardon me; every person present in that room is treated that way.  Not just the witnesses, but the lawyers, the police officers, the court workers, the observers, the people there for other cases – everyone.

It is ridiculous hyperbole - no judge could treat everyone in such a way.  However if we’re going to believe in the principle that every person attending court be treated equally, then no one attending court should ever have been treated in the manner that Mr. Camp did on that occasion.  These are diametrically opposing, it can not be both ways.  Without question or doubt, Mr. Camp has demonstrated how he sees fit to treat people in his court.

He’s not a misogynist, he’s not a racist,” said Justice McCawley in Mr. Camp’s defence.  No, Ms. McCawley, his actions were misogynist and racist and unacceptable.  It does not necessarily mean that Mr. Camp treats all people, particularly yourself, in such a manner.  But the fact that he behaves in such a manner to anyone demonstrates that Mr. Camp can not be expected to treat everyone fairly and equally.

That is pure poison in a role of justice that bears the power of actual life and death.  Mr. Camp cannot be trusted to treat all persons fairly.  If you can not walk into his court house with the trust that you will be fairly heard, he can not sit on the bench.

In the case of Lori Douglas, I argued that her poor decision making and the blind denial that confidence in the court was shaken from her circumstance meant she could no longer stand as an effective judge.  I said, “No one knows better than I that bad things sometimes happen to good people.”

Unlike Lori Douglas, I believe Robin Camp has definitively shown that he is not a good person.  While in a position of great power, he treated a woman shamefully.  His own shame.

Mr. Camp is fighting for his job.  We, the citizens need to be able to trust the judgement of the judges.  When a justice can not be trusted to recuse himself when he fails to understand the very law he’s passing sentence on, he (or she) has no right to sit on the bench.  If Mr. Camp does not understand his actions have disqualified him to sit as a judge, his very judgment cannot be trusted.

Robin Camp is fighting to retain a job he has no right to hold.  This needs to be shouted from the rooftops.  He must be fired immediately.