DON'T INTERFERE WITH OUR JUDGES

A cornerstone of the Canadian justice system has been given a swift and
unseemly boot by the misinformed members of Waterloo regional council. The
politicians should back off -- and we have this on sound legal advice.

In their zeal to deal with a local drug problem, and in their apparent
ignorance of how the legal system works, the regional politicians indulged
in a well-meant but inexcusable act of meddling last month. They sent a
personal letter to 16 local judges, calling on each one of those judges to
hand out tougher penalties for people convicted of growing marijuana on a
large scale.

There is no reason to doubt that the politicians felt they were
representing the interests of the people who elected them on a matter that
is of vital public interest. But that does not excuse them.

They were wrong.Their action violated the principle upon which the Canadian
legal system is founded: Those who dispense justice -- the judges -- must
be free to work independently of all direct, outside influences. Neither
wealth, social status nor political power gives anyone the right to tell an
individual judge working on an individual case what to do. When a judge
renders a decision, that judge should be influenced only by the facts of
the case, the guidelines set by other courts and the dictates of the law
itself. Beyond this, judges can't be pushed, pulled or lobbied by anyone.

It is true that many people in this region believe the sentences handed out
to people convicted of home-grow marijuana operations are too light. In
fact, we would agree that sentencing someone to house arrest for running a
dangerous, illegal operation that steals electricity and creates a public
fire hazard seems neither adequate punishment nor suitable deterrent. But
that's not the issue.

The issue is how dissent with judicial rulings can and cannot be voiced.
Council was, in fact, within its rights when it passed a resolution
advocating tougher penalties for home-growers. Council was also within its
rights when it sent that resolution to the solicitors general of Canada and
Ontario as well as the local members of Parliament and members of the
provincial legislature. All of these people are elected politicians and
fair targets for lobbying.

But the councillors crossed a line when they mailed the resolution to local
judges. When they did this, they were clearly trying to use their position
as a political body to influence specific judges in specific cases.
Otherwise, why send the letters? The error was compounded by the fact that
regional Chairman Ken Seiling is also chairman of the police services
board. Not content to steer the local police force, he is now apparently
trying to direct the judiciary as well. So much for the separation of the
powers of the state,

What council did will raise legitimate fears in the minds of many
individuals who stand accused in drug cases that they will be denied a
fair, unprejudiced hearing -- simply because the politicians pressured the
judges. Many of the judges involved have already criticized the regional
politicians, and in such legal matters it is wise to defer to the judges.
Under the circumstances, council's best course of action would be to
apologize to those judges and resolve to never again directly interfere
with the judiciary.