Daily Times

TORONTO: A Calgary judge, accused of making racist remarks to a class of law students, has resigned her position as Judge in Residence at the University of Calgary.

The Canadian Judicial Council is also reviewing a complaint against the judge which it received during last week amid lawyers questioning impartiality of the judge in cases involving people of colour.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik was guest lecturing to a University of Calgary second-year law class last week when she told a story about being nervous in a room full of “big dark people.”

Following condemnations by students, staff and rights activists, Justice Eidsvik apologized to the class the next day, saying she “felt sick” about her comments.

“Calgary judge apologizes to law students for comments ‘insensitive to racial minorities’, Faculty of law dean Ian Holloway said in an email sent to staff and students. “I am writing to let you know that Madam Justice Eidsvik has today resigned from her position as judge in residence”, he said. In a separate statement published on its website, the university said, “Justice Kristine Eidsvik resigned from her position as judge-in-residence in the Faculty of Law on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. The Judge-in-Residence program provides wonderful learning opportunities for students, faculty and staff, and we appreciate the contributions Justice Eidsvik made to the law school during her tenure.”

The review by Canada’s judicial watchdog could take several months in deciding complaint against the judge. Justice Eidsvik was appointed to the Court of Queen’s bench in 2007.

Lawyer Avnish Nanda and some of colleagues have questioned the impartiality of the judge. Nanda said an apology doesn’t cut it. “Most of my clients are people of colour, are marginalized people, and I would be extremely concerned as to if these people get a fair hearing before this justice if she has those feelings toward them, he said.

Nanda said he thinks it is the responsibility of the legal community to push for racial sensitivity training for judges. “I think it’s incumbent on both the legal professions, the justice involved and her colleagues to push toward some sort of racial sensitivity training, address the unconscious or conscious biases the justice has toward people of colour,” he said.

In March last year, a federal court judge had resigned after Canada’s judicial watchdog recommended his removal from the bench for his offensive remarks to a victim of sexual assault. Federal Court Justice Robin Camp, during a sex assault trial in 2014 ignited controversy as a provincial court judge she he asked the complainant “why she did not resist an alleged rape by simply keeping her knees together”.

In its ruling, the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) said Camp “showed obvious disdain for some of the characteristics of the regime enacted by Parliament in respect of sexual assault issues.”

“We find that the judge’s conduct, viewed in its totality and in light of all of its consequences, was so manifestly and profoundly destructive of the concept of impartiality, integrity and independence of the judicial role that public confidence is sufficiently undermined to render the judge incapable of executing the judicial office,” the council’s ruling read.

Published in Daily Times, January 12^th 2018.