Lawyer Defends City Police In Blockade
A high profile Toronto lawyer has complained to a legal disciplinary body that a judge should have declared conflict of interest before telling the Sarnia Police Service to forcibly remove a First Nations blockade of the C.N. rail spur in December 2012.
Peter Rosenthal says Superior Court Justice D.M. Brown twice acted as legal counsel for the railway prior to his appointment to the bench.
Judge Brown made scathing comments about police inaction, but Rosenthal, who sat through two years of testimony at the Ipperwash Inquiry, says Sarnia Chief Phil Nelson acted exactly as he should have.
Rosenthal has asked the Canadian Judicial Council to tell Judge Brown that it would be inappropriate for him to hear any future cases involving C.N. and First Nations.