
Labrador judge reprimanded for 2014 comments about prosecutors, Legal Aid
CBC
A provincial court judge has been reprimanded over comments critical of Crown attorneys and Legal Aid lawyers in Labrador back in 2014.
The tribunal's decision now appears to be final, after a seven-year process that ran up to seven figures in legal fees — a bill footed by taxpayers — and concluded long after John Joy retired from the bench.
Last summer, a tribunal found that Joy's conduct was deserving of sanction.
The list of possible consequences included suspension or even removal from the bench.
But since Joy retired in 2017, the tribunal found that the "only realistic option" was a reprimand.
Joy appealed the tribunal's twin decisions, stemming from two separate complaints filed under the provincial court act — one from the director of public prosecutions, and the other from Legal Aid.
But finally, last month, he abandoned both of those appeals at Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court.