Dawn Ritch, Contributor
A. J. NICHOLSON, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, and Ian Ramsay Q.C., counsel representing the police before the West Kingston Commission of Enquiry, have laboured mightily upon the impossible defence of its chairman, and brought forth a mouse.
Neither has any argument to counter the fact that the Supreme Court of Canada found Justice Julius Isaac's conduct as a federal chief justice "inappropriate".
Nor that the panel for the Canadian Judicial Council twice reiterated its "disapproval" of his behaviour.
Since the Canadian Judicial Council, in which Justice Isaac was a member, did not take further action and call for a public enquiry and recommend to the Canadian House of Parliament that he be sacked, another newspaper has concluded that Justice Isaac was "cleared". What utter nonsense.
The Attorney-General and Mr. Ian Ramsay have been at great pains to present Justice Isaac's controversial background as a mere trifle.
The public must know that it was not so regarded by the Canadian Supreme Court and the Canadian House of Parliament, and this information should have remained Justice Isaac's business and theirs, not mine.
Here are extracts from an edited version of the Canadian Hansard, the official record of the proceedings of the Canadian House of Parliament.
"In an effort to cover up this deceit, these justice officials (Justice Julius Isaac and Associate Chief Justice Jerome) recognized the need to keep Ted Thompson from testifying when a motion for a stay of proceedings was entered on the basis of political interference into the judicial independence of the court. This deceit and the object of deceit is revealed in secret justice department documents which justice officials were ordered to file in the Supreme Court of Canada. One of these documents is a memo from senior general counsel for the Attorney General of Canada . . . that if Ted Thompson testified in court 'The damage done to the image of the department, the attorney general and the court will be incalculable for all time and the consequences could be far reaching, going far beyond the immediate concern for these three cases. It could precipitate the resignations of the minister and the chief justice. More importantly, the reputation of the government and the court will be irreparably damaged if all the evidence were to come out.'
"As unbelievable as this is, the memo clearly and accurately describes the story being put forward by the justice department as false and a cover up, and this assessment is not denied by any justice official in the documents filed with the Supreme Court of Canada.
"Ted Thompson and Chief Justice Isaac committed one of the most serious breaches of judicial interference ever experienced in this country (Canada). The true facts surrounding this enormous violation have been ignored and some say covered up and have just been revealed recently.
"In the words of defence counsel quoting Lord Denning, 'Had this occurred in England, it would have brought down the government'.
"But not in Canada because in Canada political interference in the judicial process has become a way of life and the hallmark of the Liberal government."
Scandalous
All this should also have been Mr. A.J. Nicholson's business, since he is our Attorney-General.
In the normal course of things he would have been invited to give our Prime Minister advice upon the suitability of the appointment of Justice Isaac to chair the enquiry into the 7th-10th July violence in West Kingston, which left 27 poor, black people dead and rotting on the ground for days after a police action led by Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams.
Was the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice aware of Justice Isaac's controversial background? That he caused a national scandal in Canada? And does this mean nothing either to him, or Mr. Ramsay?
I would advise these gentlemen not to pull my tongue any further on their authority, the Canadian Judicial Council. Suffice it to say only that in its judgement the Supreme Court of Canada noted in Section 118.
"Also of concern is the intervention of the Canadian Judicial Council. We understand that one of the Council's committees issued a report in which comments were made about the conduct of Isaac C.J. and Jerome A.C.J. in connection with the appellants' cases. Although the Canadian Judicial Council is not bound by the sub judice rule, it might have been preferable in these circumstances for the Council to have refrained from making its report while the matter of the stay of proceedings was still working its way through the courts. There is a further complication arising from the premature release of these reports. It arises because these reasons could be taken as indicating that we take a more serious view of these events than did either the Honourable Mr. Dubin or the Judicial Council..."
Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Ramsay ought to be ashamed of themselves for calling me names.
It was not me, but Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who dredged up Justice Isaac, when the former could have had any Jamaican judge with a decent and respectable background for the purpose of holding an enquiry into West Kingston.
Partial
Justice Isaac's judicial background in Canada indicates his susceptibility to the arms of the state and personal loyalties.
The West Kingston Enquiry is to arrive at the truth of why 27 people were slaughtered in a four-day police operation which laid siege to an inner-city community from the third floor command post of a public market. Coronation Market in point of fact.
Mr. Ramsay, counsel for the police at this enquiry, has come to the repeated defence of its chairman and his controversial background.
The final report from this Commission is likely to be a regurgitation of police reports, and nothing will come of it.
The principal fact in Justice Isaac's controversial background is that it involves allegations of partiality to the state.
Impartiality is the fundamental qualification of a judge and the core attribute of the judiciary. His public admission that his ruling limiting cross-examination only affected one attorney, that of the Leader of the Opposition, in whose constituency the atrocity took place, is clear evidence of a lack of impartiality.
Grenada-born Justice Isaac disgraced himself in Canada, and by his performance disgraces himself here. And if his partiality toward the state did not disqualify him from chairing a Jamaican Commission into actions of the state, his subsequent loud snoring during the enquiry should have. Its chairman has been unconscious during the proceedings.
The man is scandalous. The only decent and honourable thing for the Prime Minister to do under these circumstances, is to recommend to the Governor-General the revocation of Justice Isaac's appointment. Only a new commission can get at the truth, because this one has missed the opportunity to do so.
On the other hand, if Mr. Patterson was aware of this background beforehand, and knowingly appointed Justice Isaac, then the appointment is nothing less than corrupt. I have always admired Mr. Ramsay, and it would pain me to see him in such company.
