This petition is an official appeal to the Quebec National Assembly and seeks support from anyone in Quebec, across Canada, or elsewhere who regards themselves as a member of civilized society and a champion of justice for everyone.

Justice Catherine Pilon's appointment to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal must be retracted.

As Canadians, we support the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which together represent a system of laws that assure us a land of opportunity and abundance for everyone.

This assurance includes indigenous communities who have suffered horrific persecution that continue to this day, as well as the many other communities who continue to be marginalized. Despite the guarantees of these Charters, we have seen the transgressions of police officers who conduct themselves with impunity against visible minorities and the most defenceless people, including the homeless.

But, the appointment of Judge Catherine Pilon as a justice of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal makes it abundantly clear that the dream of a just and equal Quebec and Canada has failed. 

Who could feel that they are being provided with impartial justice if they were to stand before a judge like Catherine Pilon whose career was made through aggressively quashing cases brought forward by humble Canadians seeking due process?

Catherine Pilon, shown in the photo above, stands not with other judges, but instead displays herself at a lavish party, consorting with an ex-premier of Quebec and other members of Quebec's elites with ties to a myriad of companies whose vested interests Canadian consumers may seek to challenge in future lawsuits.

Catherine Pilon has also maintained social media accounts which include Linkedin and Twitter which enable her to be contacted as a judge in ways which breach fundamental ethics and integrity.

 

 

No other judge on the Tribunal has sought to maintain such accounts which enable such contacts outside the courtroom. 

Judge Catherine Pilon was once a Partner in Dentons, a multinational law firm serving the interests of multi-billion-dollar companies.

Beyond her connection to companies that may place profits above people, the website of Judge Pilon's former law firm specifically proclaims the following:

"DENTONS DEFENDS AGAINST CLAIMS OF DISCRIMINATION"

 

 

Judge Pilon hearing such a case in which her former employers are implicated represents a conflict of interest; as a Tribunal member, she cannot be impartial. 

Systemic racism among police and corporations can be eradicated once we realize the real "Ground Zero" starts with the integrity of the very judges who preside over our legal system.

Ethical judges make ethical decisions that affirm the due process of law for everyone.

Having judges with ties to unethical people results in corrupt decisions and perpetuates social injustices because perpetrators can feel confident in the presence of sympathetic judges and more effectively conceal their wickedness. 

When the very people who are being appointed to adjudicate our human and civil rights include lawyers from firms that possess anti-human rights agendas like that of Catherine Pilon’s former law firm, the integrity of our legal system is put into disrepute.

Judges like Catherine Pilon are seizing on cases related to high-profile firms and businesses, preventing any judge who seeks to defend the Charter from rendering a judicial decision that may go against the interests of elites. This includes the police that, as a lawyer, Catherine Pilon had pledged to defend.

And, once a judge like Catherine Pilon seizes on a case, they act to block other judges from intervening to correct the injustices that they too observe.

Justice Catherine Pilon, who apparently parties with the rich and powerful, is the very symbol of all that's hypocritical in our system of supposed justice for all that has instead empowered members of the police and other elite institutions to perpetrate racial profiling and other social injustices.

We, the undersigned, implore the Quebec National Assembly to immediately investigate how a lawyer tied to law firm that very explicitly boasts of seeking to quash cases of discrimination ever got appointed to a Human Rights Tribunal that ought to require the appointment of judges with unswerving commitment to defending the integrity of human rights at all levels;

We, the undersigned, then ask members of the Quebec National Assembly to call a vote on whether there are grounds to impeach Justice Catherine Pilon from the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal based upon a "reasonable apprehension of bias" in relation to her having been a partner in a law firm that explicitly seeks to quash legal claims regarding discrimination that specifically violate the Quebec Charter;

We further implore the Quebec National Assembly to undertake efforts to collectively subject all new judicial applicants to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal to cross-examination on their human rights background to ensure that judges like Catherine Pilon are never again entrusted to judicial appointments tied to the enforcement of the Charter.

We also implore the Quebec National Assembly to take steps to ensure that newly appointed judges within the Human Rights Tribunal and at all levels of the Quebec Court system will be more reflective of the diversity of Quebec in order to mitigate against cultural bias in the administration of justice;

We also implore the Quebec National Assembly to create a Bill of Rights to protect all self-represented litigants and to create a Citizen's Commission to review any complaints by self-represented litigants who feel that they have been subjected to unfair treatment or discrimination that violates their right to avail themselves of Charter protections. 

We hope that the process associated with any eventual impeachment of Judge Catherine Pilon will become a model for civilized people of the world who seek to liberate their judiciaries from judges whose presiding over cases puts the administration of justice into disrepute and undermines efforts to support the fruition of a Just Society for everyone. 

Disclaimer:

This petition is made in affirmation of Section 21 of the Quebec Charter, which states, "Every person has a right of petition to the National Assembly for the redress of grievances.”

This petition is also made in affirmation of Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states, "Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication."