OTTAWA -- A Canadian Judicial Council inquiry committee says a Quebec judge who displayed "aggressive and disagreeable" attitudes toward lawyers and failed to render decisions on time should be removed from office.
The committee began looking into Justice Gérard Dugré, who was appointed to the Superior Court in 2009, after a number of complaints were filed about his conduct on the bench.
Its 285-page decision says he committed acts that constitute "serious judicial misconduct," undermining public confidence to the point where he cannot sit as a judge.
He has a "chronic inability to render judgments within a reasonable time," the report says, and is condescending and at times mean.
In a custody case, Dugré threatened to have a father sent to a cell for failing to disclose documents, telling him the court had cells for women with hungry mice in them, and separate cells for men filled with starving rats.
The recommendation will now go before 17 members of the Canadian Judicial Council, who will make a further recommendation to the federal justice minister about whether Dugré will keep his job.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2022.
