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Miscellaneous See other Miscellaneous Articles Title: Retired chief justice reflects on his role The Road Not Taken: Bernardo judge considered priesthood The judge who presided over the Paul Bernardo trial considers the question, then chooses his words very carefully: did he ever pray during his 29 years on the bench? "In very, very stressful periods - of which I've had few - yes, I would sometimes just go into a church, an empty church and sit, contemplate. A little bit of prayer, yes," Patrick LeSage tells Tapestry in an interview. If a person breaks a law, it doesn't make them a criminal. You may commit a crime, that doesn't make you a criminal in my eyes. Patrick LeSage But the retired chief justice of the Superior Court of Ontario is emphatic about one thing: never during his long tenure as a judge did he pray about any matter before the court. LeSage says he was careful not the let the principles of his religion interfere with his judgement on the bench. He was "not praying for guidance as much as praying to help me get through difficult periods." LeSage, 79, speaks to Tapestry in a wide-ranging interview touching on the dignity of the accused, the emotional load carried by lawyers and judges, and his belief in the essential goodness of human beings. "A Habitual Catholic" LeSage, who counts driving a fuel truck in Tweed, Ontario, among his earliest experiences in the working world, says he was always aware of a common humanity in the courtroom - in spite of the fact he occupied the elevated judge's bench, while many of the accused before him were in a great deal of trouble. "If a person breaks a law, it doesn't make them a criminal. You may commit a crime, that doesn't make you a criminal in my eyes...If you draw a simple stick man it doesn't make you an artist," says LeSage, whose honours include the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. "If I had an attribute that that served me well, it's always trying to be fair, to be respectful. To treat everyone with dignity - and I don't care who the person is. Whether they're the top of the heap or the bottom of the heap, you treat them (as) identical," says the amiable LeSage. The Globe and Mail's former justice reporter, Kirk Makin, sat in LeSage's courtrooms for decades. He says the former judge embodies the qualities the judiciary would most like to see in itself. "In a way, his name says it all: LeSage - (the) sage. He's sage, he is respectable, he is respecting... I've never heard a negative word about him and that is a rare thing with judges." LeSage describes himself as a "habitual Catholic" who was schooled by Jesuits and once considered becoming a priest himself. "I attend Mass regularly. It would take a lot to keep me away from Mass on Sunday and, as well, I not infrequently go during the week. But I would not say that I am a slavish adherent of all of the rules, the principles, of the Roman Catholic Church." Complex trials, simple values After nearly 50 years working in the legal system, the former chief justice notes he has always believed in the essential decency of the human being, this being among the values instilled in him during his childhood. LeSage grew up in a home where neighbours would sometimes seek out his father, who had only a grade three education, to settle arguments. Paul Bernardo Paul Bernardo was convicted of two first-degree murders in one of the most painful criminal trials in Canadian history. (Frank Gunn/CP) "The two sides to a party with a dispute of some sort would come...My father was considered to be a wise person and these people would think, 'Well let's go to Wilfred LeSage and see what he thinks about this," he says, adding society has lost a valuable tradition of settling disagreements informally, with the help of neighbours, doctors, ministers and the like. "In a way, I think it's too bad that we don't try to resolve more of our disputes within the community." LeSage presided over some of the country's most complex legal hearings, and its most notorious. He also led public inquiries on Ontario's police complaints system, on public housing in Toronto, and into the wrongful murder conviction of James Driskell in Manitoba. Although the Paul Bernardo case was once described as the trial that could destroy one's faith in humanity, LeSage says it did not have such an effect on him. "No. It was hurtful; it was emotional..." he said of the 16-month-long procedure," adding that he arranged counselling for any staff and jurors who wanted it, when the trial was done. Bernardo trial: an 'emotional assault' "And I took some counselling myself afterwards. It was slightly informal because the person was actually an addiction doctor who was an old friend of mine, but I spent a couple of sessions with him and it helped me to get over the emotional... assault." LeSage had a long-standing habit during his days on the bench: he would look the convicted in the eye and convey good wishes along with his good-bye. He did the same for Paul Bernardo. "I wished him well in serving his sentence and I meant it sincerely. But I also expressed that I felt that he probably should spend the rest of his life in prison... At the end he said, 'Thank you.'" To hear Patrick LeSage's thoughts on whether wisdom does indeed come with age - and the Gandalf school of judgement - click on listen button for this week's episode of Tapestry. Poster Comment: society has lost a valuable tradition of settling disagreements informally Government bureaucrats promote this by urging ratting on others; the more complaints reported the more secure their sinecures. I felt that he probably should spend the rest of his life in prison... But like other bumpkins on the bench the judge neglected to ask Bernardo if there was anything that could have been done in his earlier life to prevent his depraved and psychopathic behavior (nor did Hynes ask why judges don't attempt to elicit information which might help prevent unacceptable social behavior). Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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