Misconduct found in judge’s comments

A committee of the Canadian Judicial Council has unanimously recommended that Justice Robin Camp be removed from the bench. Camp is the judge who asked a woman in a rape trial why she didn’t just keep her knees together to thwart the alleged sexual assault.

Camp faced an inquiry into his comments, made in Alberta in 2014. He told the committee, made up of five Superior Court judges and senior lawyers, that he was “very sorry that, on reflection and rereading what I said, that I intimidated her, using facetious words." He said his comments came from a "deep-rooted" bias.

The committee found that Camp committed “misconduct” as a provincial court judge at the trial. He has since been promoted to the Federal Court.

Camp’s council now has the opportunity to review the committee’s report and respond. After the committee reviews that response, the committee will decide whether to make recommendation to the Justice Minister to have the judge removed from the bench.