Judge Gérard Dugré, blamed for his questionable humor, outrageous comments and repeated delays, decided to challenge his dismissal by the Canadian Judicial Council.
• Also read: A judge who, following our investigation, was heavily accused by the Judicial Council
• Also read: Dismissal of Judge Gérard Dugré confirmed
In a motion filed in federal court this week, Judge Dugré, through the voice of his attorneys, alleges that he instead resorted to “jokes” to “prompt the thinking of the parties” in court and that this caused his delays in sentencing be the fact that he is an “outstanding” judge.
Judge Dugré, who sat at the Quebec Supreme Court in Montreal, intends to annul the decision made against him by the Conseil de la Magistrature late last December.
His request is very detailed as it is almost 90 pages long. In particular, he attacks the workings of the investigative committee of the Conseil de la Magistrature set up to investigate his case and analyzes the public complaints against him, which he considers unfounded.
What jokes
So, in order to justify Judge Dugré’s inappropriate statements in a lawsuit against parents regarding the choice of school for her child, we read in the motion that they were rather hoaxes intended to stimulate the thinking of both parents.
” [C’était] to encourage the parties to add water to their wine and find solutions to their problem,” it says.
In her complaint, the child’s mother had not seen him that way at all. She hadn’t liked that the judge jokingly suggested that if both parents could not agree, put the child up for adoption. He had also offered to get back together as a couple to resolve the situation.
An “extraordinary” judge
Regarding the delays in sentencing, the motion argues that Judge Dugré was “positively ‘non-standard'” due to the variety of cases, while challenging the methodology used to assess the extent of the delays he agreed Listen.
Unlike his colleagues [magistrats]he agreed to sit on every matter, which made his legal analyzes longer and more difficult,” we argue.
In announcing the dismissal of Judge Dugré, the Conseil de la magistrature had not been lenient with these behavioral discrepancies. “Misconduct of the Judge [Dugré] has undermined public confidence in the judiciary to such an extent that it is no longer able to perform its duties,” the Conseil stressed last December.
Parliament decide
Ultimately, the Canadian Parliament could decide Judge Dugré’s fate. If the judge loses his appeals, his dismissal must be confirmed by the House of Commons and Senate.
This would be a first in Canadian history, as no Ottawa-appointed judge has ever been dismissed by Parliament.
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