Senior Ontario court judge found guilty of judicial misconduct retires, avoiding punishment

The A. Grenville and William Davis Courthouse in Brampton, Ont., is seen in this undated image.

A senior Ontario judge found guilty of judicial misconduct won’t face punishment after he retired on Friday.

The Ontario Judicial Council posted a notice on its website on Friday stating the retirement of Justice Paul Currie.

“Since Justice Currie is no longer a judge of that court, the Council no longer has jurisdiction over the complaint about his conduct. As a result, the hearing on the appropriate disposition of the complaint will not proceed,” the notice read.

In a decision published by the Ontario Judicial Council earlier this month, a four-member review panel accepted most of the allegations levelled against Currie following a string of incidents in 2023, including when he allegedly engaged in non-consensual intercourse with a victim and then caused bodily harm after pushing them.

“Based on the evidence adduced at the hearing, the hearing panel was unanimous in concluding that five of the six allegations in the Notice of Hearing were established on a balance of probabilities, and that the test for judicial misconduct was met in relation to each of these allegations,” the council wrote in a brief summary.

The council was expected to hear arguments on his penalty next month.

Currie, who was appointed as the Regional Senior Judge of the Central West Region of the Ontario Court of Justice in 2019, would have been reprimanded, ordered to issue an apology to the complainant, suspended with pay for any period or suspended without pay for a period of up to thirty days.

Currie was initially criminally charged in connection with the alleged assault, which occurred in January of 2023, and the other alleged assault, which occurred five months later.

The criminal charges against him were withdrawn by the Crown on the grounds that there was “no reasonable prospect of conviction,” according to a written decision.

After the charges were withdrawn, the judicial council began its investigation following a complaint submitted by then-Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve on April 12, 2023.