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Note at the end of this entry the response received from the LSO’s Treasurer, Peter Wardle, on Feb 24, 2026
The entry below up to that point was first posted on February 12th, referencing our Feb 5th letter, and was updated on Feb 18, and again today, Feb 24, 2026.
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One week ago today, on Thursday, February 5, 2026, the Law and Mental Disorder Association wrote to Ontario’s Attorney General Doug Downey, Deputy Attorney General Randy Schwartz and the Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario, Peter Wardle, asking what is being done for the defence bar in the wake of this incident.
To support us through this period where so many of our members, women and racialized defence lawyers and in particular racialized women defence lawyers, are struggling with the seriously unsettling, broad and deep adverse impact of what has been reported.
On that same date, we had become aware that MAG very appropriately was acknowledging the harms to racialized staff in the Criminal Division, although nothing was said specifically about women in at least the widely circulated email communication we have reviewed. Various avenues were identified for supports government staff could access if they were triggered by the allegations of physical assault of Sudine Riley, a Black woman criminal defence lawyer, by Durham Regional Police officers at the Oshawa Courthouse.
We were keen to hear how our government or our governing body was planning to support us.
We’ve waited a full week and despite requesting that our correspondence be minimally acknowledged, we have not had the favour of any reply from any of the addressees.
This is neither different nor less than expected.
Equally, it is neither intended nor anticipated that opening our letter to make it public, will trigger any response.
What I hope it will do, however, is to put a very fine point on what some systemic factors may be contributing to courthouse dynamics and policing culture that conceive of defence lawyers as less worthy of respect than our counterparts prosecuting for the State.
I’ll leave it to the reader to continue to unpack what link systemic factors like this may have to incidents as devastating as the circumstances of Jan 23 2026 that Sudine Riley alleges.
You can access LAMDA’s letter here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10a9MQ1bXBzLMk6cdeJgmmlyFSI8pO1DL/view?usp=drive_link
We won’t hold our breaths, but should LAMDA receive any response, we promise to publish it here fully in fairness to all those concerned.
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POSTSCRIPT
My Feb 18 2026 LinkedIn Post updates on the situation, in context, and this is what it says in case you can’t link to it readily.
42 minutes ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn
What a time to be alive if you’re an Ontario Crown attorney with judicial aspirations. Yesterday Doug Downey appointed another five judges to the Court of Justice, all from various Crown’s offices — and once again, absolutely predictably based on recent history, none from the defence side of the aisle.
No doubt worthy appointments on their own individual merit, and congratulations to all.
That said, this persistence in favouring the “hiring” of “like-minded” judges as our Premier has said, is fueling the differential treatment of State vs Defence across the administration of justice. It continues to signal that prosecutors deserve the respect denied to the defence. Reinforces that this discrimination is justified.
And then we wonder why defence lawyers report being beaten by police acting as security in our courthouses. If consistent messaging from our government continues to dismiss an entire class of lawyers within the profession as less worthy, perhaps even worthless, the logical end result is open season on us.
Indeed when that report of the alleged assault at the courthouse came to light, the only concern we know our Attorney General apparently had was to ensure that Crown attorneys were supported in the wake of that troubling incident. Again, a commendable concern, but it is increasingly clear to those of us in defence, that we simply do not matter or count.
Still no answer from anyone, despite following up.
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THE LAW SOCIETY OF ONTARIO RESPONDS ON FEB 24 2026
anitaszigeti 