Neil Armstrong
Gleaner Writer

A coalition of concerned Canadians of African descent has launched a national campaign calling for the dismissal of all accusations made against Ontario Court judge Donald McLeod.

Justice McLeod, who was born in England of Jamaican parentage and spent some time along with his sister living in Tyre, Trelawny with their grandmother before coming to join their mother in Toronto, is the founder of the Federation of Black Canadians (FBC). It was founded in 2016 and officially launched on December 6, 2017, at the National Black Canadians Summit in Toronto.

He was the interim Chair of its Steering Committee until June 2018 when he stepped down because a complaint was made to the Ontario Judicial Council regarding his involvement in the FBC.

The Judicial Council will commence a hearing on November 30 in front of a panel that will consider whether the alleged conduct "occurred and constituted judicial misconduct".

The Ottawa-based coalition, Black Agenda Noir, has invited concerned Canadians to sign an online petition to support Justice McLeod. It is also inviting members of the community to rally in person at the hearing to voice their support for the judge.

The Notice of Hearing summarizes the alleged conduct as: "While presiding full-time as a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice, His Honour founded, led and served as Chair of the Steering Committee for the organization called the Federation of Black Canadians ("FBC"), a national, non-profit organization that meets with government representatives to advocate for legal and social reform on behalf of Black Canadians.

"His Honour failed to uphold the integrity, impartiality and independence of the judiciary when he communicated with and met with politicians on behalf of FBC, inappropriately used the power and prestige of his judicial office to advance the interests of the FBC and lent the prestige of the judicial office to FBC fundraising."

The Hearing Panel will be composed of a judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, who will chair the panel, a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice, a lawyer member and a community member.

Advocate sees allegations as an attempt to shut up judge

Supporters of Justice Donald McLeod are hitting out. Ewart Walters, co-founder of the national Black Agenda Noir coalition, claims that the allegations represent an attempt to silence the justice.

"This course of action fits into a long-established pattern of undermining and even dismantling Black leadership in Canada," said Walters.

"Using the pretext of impartiality and non-partisanship, the Canadian judicial system is attempting to silence one of the few justices with an intimate knowledge of how racism can affect the administration of justice. Further, it is unconscionable that these actions are being pursued the year that Canada and Ontario officially recognized the International Decade for People of African Descent. The accusations do not stand. The proceedings must stop immediately."

Walters said this is not the first time that a Black judge has been drawn up before the Judicial Council. He said it happened to the late Grenada-born Julius Alexander Isaac, the first and only Black Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada, in the 1990s.