They’re big on “lessons learned” in the Canadian Forces, so here then, are my top three from the recently concluded Vice-Admiral Mark Norman case:
1. The private bar will almost inevitably kick the living hell out of prosecutors.
This wasn’t always true, arguably still isn’t true of provincial prosecutors, but with federal prosecutors, alas, it appears to be so.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada had at least five prosecutors at various times on the Norman file — Moray Welch, Mark Covan, Jeannine Plamondon, Barb Mercier and John MacFarlane — and it is fair to say none of them, except possibly MacFarlane who was the latest addition and whom I never saw in action — distinguished themselves.
I am not comparing them merely to Norman’s excellent lawyers, Marie Henein
It does not appear to be merely a question of money either, though of course, that is part of the equation.
The privately retained lawyers, particularly Henein and Mainville — but also the judge, Ontario Court Judge Heather Perkins-McVey — simply outworked the Crown side. They all knew the file better than any prosecutor. They were better-prepared, terrifyingly so, in fact.
One for instance may suffice.
The lawyer Ian Carter was in court one day last December, representing a witness, a serving member of the CF, who had come forward to the
The witness was the person who was told by a brigadier-general that the reply to an Access to Information request seeking records and emails about Norman, should be “Nil” or no-records-found response.
“Don’t worry,” the witness said the brigadier-general advised, “This isn’t our first rodeo. We made sure we didn’t use his (Norman’s) name.”
So Carter wanted the ban, to protect the witness’s career.
This isn’t our first rodeo
The lead lawyer for the Department of Justice (which represented the various government departments from whom records were sought), Rob MacKinnon, got to his feet and began objecting to the proposed ban.
“I can’t tell, I don’t even know what section of the (Criminal) Code it is…” he began.
“Want my copy?” asked the judge.
Carter got the ban.
My point, prosecutors in this case seemed rarely to have at their fingertips relevant documents, the law they were citing, or arguments marshalled.
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See Also:
(2) Let’s never repeat the Norman fiasco
(3) Trudeau Government Still Looking At Bringing ISIS Terrorists Back To Canada
(4) Alberta’s straight-talking, belligerent statesman launches his own era
(5) Keeping houses off floodplains should be in Scheer’s climate plan
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