Is the Canadian Judicial Council a bureaucratic gong show aiding and abetting the jurisdocracy? Let's ask Mr. Self-Rep .....

Good Day Readers:

It's always nice to receive e-mail from par excellence layperson legal researcher and CSB's resident expert on the jurisdocracy, as well as, the Canadian Judicial Council Chris Budgell.

Doctor Julie Macfarlane, a law professor at the University of Windsor ably assisted by Project Co-ordinator Sue Rice, are expected to release a report sometime next time documenting the results of a survey of almost 400 self-reps located in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. Funding limitations only allowed these provinces to be included. Preliminary indications in the media suggest an overwhelming majority are of the view the judiciary treated them like .... bordering on contempt. Is there any reason to believe it's different in the other provinces, such as Manitoba, or the Territories? Probably not.

Julie Macfarlane

As noted by Mr. Budgell, about the same time the Macfarlane Report is released the Canadian jurisdocracy will get a double whammy from publication of Unjust by Design by Ron Ellis an administrative lawyer, teacher, academic arbitrator, as well as, former Chair/CEO of a major administrative judicial tribunal who's been talking and writing about the subject for more than 30-years. His thesis? Canadian legislatures regularly assign court fuunctions to non-court, government tribunals with potentially disastrous consequences for the every day rights of both individuals and businesses. A dual indictment of the system?

Mr. Self-Rep is largely correct in asserting the mainstream media has largely ignored this story. Why? Perhaps it doesn't contain enough sex (save for the Douglas Inquiry), drugs, rockn'roll, blood and sperm to sell enough advertising. So where do you find a journalist with the courage (read "cojones") to cover this story?

"Ring! Ring! Ring! Hello, RoadKill Radio News? CyberSmokeBlog here we'd like to speak with Kari Simpson!"

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

Dear CyberSmokeBlog:

The judges continue to inhabit a secure fortress principally because of the elaborate power-sharing arrangement they have with the executive branch of government and an array of relationships with other entities that compromise everyone.

Maybe now though there's a vulnerability in the combination of the growing number of whistle-blowers and the Internet. The Net is obviously an issue for the mainstream media. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of Julie Macfarlane's study, because in using a term like "war on self reps" she is a whistle-blower herself. I suspect she'd accept an invitation to appear on a public-affairs TV program and debate the issues with anyone. How about if one of the other guests was Ron Ellis? I've always wondered why there's no record of the media having ever spoken to this guy. It strikes me that if he didn't want to talk to them he wouldn't have written the book that is about to be released. If I was a TV jounalist I'd make a list of people to invite to a no-holds-barred on air discussion. How about the former Ontario Attorney General.Bryant, who wrote a book about his own experience?

I think part of the answer lies in bringing under one umbrella all the criticisms of the legal system / legal establishment.

An example is two items we can anticipate coming up soon. If Julie Macfarlane and her team are on schedule then they are going to release a report in March (though I wouldn't be concerned at all if it's a bit late as it's the substance that counts). A few days ago I stumbled onto something else that is scheduled for March.

UBCPress publishes a book series called "Law and Society" (http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/series_law.html).

Some of these books are valuable resources. I found a copy of "The Last Word" (http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=4539) in a Book Warehouse before they closed. I also have a copy of "The Heiress vs the Establishment" that I bought at full price.

Julie Macfarlane's book that I've borrowed from the library, "The New Lawyer," is on this list (http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=299171937).

And here's a new book, not yet on the shelves, that I consider has great potential (http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=299173982). I've known about Ellis for years, and he's received a considerable number of emails from me.

Check out the link to the sample chapter (http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/2013/

UnjustByDesign.pdf). Read some of this and you'll immediately appreciate my interest.

And bear in mind that the CJC is one of these administrative justice agencies aka tribunals (though certainly a unique one) because it exists solely as a result of legislation added to the Judges Act in 1971. The judges could do nothing if parliament simply chose to repeal that legislation.

I'm not presuming that I'll agree with everything Ellis says or that he will have said everything that needs to be said, but clearly it's going to be an indictment. Put that one together with Macfarlane's report, that will likely also read like an indictment, and the legal establishment will have it's hands full.

There's a huge and obvious opportunity for a journalist with the courage.

Chris J. Budgell
Vancouver, British Columbia