A hearing about whether a Kitchener Justice of the Peace will face professional repercussions over an on-the-job incident involving a colleague began Thursday. James Ziegler has already been found not guilty of the criminal charges he faced after he repeatedly told a colleague he wanted to have sex with her. A panel is now trying to determine if Ziegler’s conduct amounted to sexual harassment and whether he should face a professional penalty for his actions. The incident in question happened on the morning of April 19, 2024 on the seventh floor of the Waterloo Region Courthouse. The complainant, a female Justice of the Peace, was the first witness to take the stand. CTV News is not naming her. She said Ziegler, who was nothing more than a colleague, arrived in her chambers just after 9 a.m. “He appeared disheveled, he just looked unwell,” she told the panel a the review council. She continued by saying Ziegler seemed so upset that she asked if someone had died. Then, she described Ziegler leaning over her desk. “He said ‘I love you, and I want to have sex with you. I love the way you look. I love the way you laugh. I love the way you smile. I love everything about you and I want to have sex with you’.” The complainant said she was stunned and began to back away from him. “I just said ‘I just see you as a colleague. I am not interested in having sex with you. I am not interested in having an affair. I am not interested in you,’ and he just kept on.” She then recalled Ziegler rambling and describing, in detail, a previous affair he’d had and how he was frustrated with his wife helping a sick family member. “Then he talked about how he had uncontrolled anger issues and how he couldn’t control his anger and how he was horny and how he wanted to have sex with me,” the complainant said. She said she responded by continuing to tell him she wasn’t interested and that both of them were needed in their respective courts. But she said that only seemed to escalate the situation. “His voice would get louder, he would pace faster and I was terrified,” the woman told the panel. She said the encounter lasted about half an hour or more, and then all of a sudden, Ziegler walked out. “I just sat there and I started to shake.” She recalled running into Ziegler outside the cafeteria that day. Later, he came into her office again to give her a book about an unhappy woman who attempts suicide. He said she had to read it. Later that same day, she said Ziegler came to her chambers again, but she had locked the door. She said she could tell it was him based on the clothes she could see from the window. “I can’t express how terrified I was and I just said ‘go away’ and he kept banging on the door and shaking the door handle. And I just remember being so terrified and thinking ‘if he gets in here, I am so done for, I don’t know what to do’,” she told the panel. The complainant continued to say Ziegler left, but she was so afraid that she had to find security to walk her to her car. She also said she couldn’t go home for hours because she was worried Ziegler would show up there. When she eventually did go home, she couldn’t sleep all night. The woman described getting a text message and phone call from Ziegler two days later when he learned he was getting a call from the Associate Chief Justice about what happened. Ziegler’s defence hasn’t yet cross-examined the witness. The hearing will continue at a later date that has yet to be determined. Ziegler remains unassigned from judicial duties, pending the hearing outcome. If the complaint is upheld, he could face a range of penalties, from a warning to a recommendation to the Attorney General he be removed from his office.
