Unbelievable

You will remember that the CHRT did not have a court reporter present during the proceeding in which the conduct of the CHRC investigators was under scrutiny. Which meant that the respondent and various commentators have been relying on hand transcribed versions of the hearing. Well, Ezra now has a beautiful transcript pf Warman v Lemire which was made available to a journalist by a CHRC official who was trying to spin the story.

Now, contrary to Ezra’s account the used of a digital recording which is then transcribed was not a special, for this hearing only, matter. Rather it is supposed to become routine for CHRT hearings.

What is outrageous is that the CHRC apparently got the transcript and then did not tell anyone it was available.

This is simply corrupt. For the government to make a transcript and then use it for public relations purposes rather than making it available to the parties is utterly unfair. As Ezra points out, if a prosecutor in a real court tried a stunt like this the judge might well toss the case as the conduct is so patently unfair.

This is one more reason that the full circumstances, procedures and personnel surrounding s. 13 investigations must be investigated by a judge. It is not just the Lemire matter any longer: there is a culture of corruption and procedural perversion at the CHRC which has tainted every one of its s. 13 prosecutions. Each needs to be re-opened.

Written by jay on May 11th, 2008 with 6 comments.
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