* Crossposted from: Clib-Sigtyr
 >>> Part 1 of 5...
                            CIVIL JUSTICE REVIEW
                             A Speech delivered
                                     by
                           Senator Anne C. Cools
                               in the Senate
                               June 22, 1995
        That she will call the attention of the Senate to the first
        report entitled CIVIL JUSTICE REVIEW on the joint review of
        the civil justice system in Ontario by the Ontario Court of
        Justice and the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario,
        co-chaired by the Honourable Mr. Justice Robert Blair and
        the Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Ms Sandra Land, and
        in particular, Chapter 16 of the report, entitled "Focus on
        Family Law"; and to some recent trends in the the practice of
        civil litigation and family law, and some recent developments
        in matrimonial and custodial disputes; and to the use of
        malice, untruth, false statements under oath, and perjury, in
        judicial proceedings in the practice of family law.
She said: Honourable senators, today I intend to draw the attention of the
Senate to certain practices and trends in the routine proceedings of the
practice of family law in Ontario. These practices have seemingly found
favour among many legal practitioners, and seem to be so prevalent in civil
litigation and in judicial proceedings that there is a crisis in the civil
justice system of Ontario.
The civil courts are constituted for the purpose of dispute resolution and
dispute settlement, of adjudicating conflict and providing judgement based
on principles of law, fairness and truth. The conflicts of matrimonial and
child custody disputes are especially difficult. In these conflicts, the
purely legal issues are accompanied by undischarged and negative human
emotions such as vengeance, regret, anger, self-deception and wounded
vanities.
Honourable senators, the former Attorney General of Ontario, the Honourable
Marion Boyd, and the well respected Chief Justice of Ontario, the
Honourable Roy McMurtry, in cooperation with the bar of Ontario, resolved
to examine the current state of civil justice in Ontario. A small task
force co-chaired by the Honourable Mr. Justice Robert Blair and Sandra
Lang, Assistant Deputy Attorney General, conducted a broad review of the
civil justice system in Ontario which included public hearings. Their first
report, entitled "Civil Justice Review" was released March 7, 1995.
        Mr. Justice Blair reports that:
        Unacceptable delays and mounting costs, with their attendant
        implications for inaccessability and mistrust of the system, have
        become endemic.
Further, Mr Justice Blair states that the civil justice system is "in a
crisis situation". He tells us that family law was the area of civil
justice which dominated the task force's public consultation phase.
Accordingly, it devotes an entire chapter, chapter 16, entitled, "Focus on
Family Law", to this concern.
The prime function of the courts is to make judgements. To do this, a judge
makes a determination of the facts. Truth is critical to this process.
Truth is so pivotal that, for centuries, the courts have employed the
technique of swearing oaths in judicial proceedings. Courts have received
evidence both in sworn written affidavits and in sworn oral testimony in
open court. The making of statements under oath is the phenomenon of
compelling truth by binding the conscience of the person sworn to tell the
truth. The oath binds the conscience of the deponent by a solemn appeal to
the deponent's deity or faith.
Honourable senators, I am loyal to those beliefs which insist on a solemn
commitment to the act of swearing an oath, particularly in legal and
judicial proceedings. I believe this loyalty is shared by most Canadians.
The oath taken by witnesses in courts reads:
 I swear that the evidence to be given by me shall be the truth, the whole
 truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
The swearing of an oath is so reverant and so respectful of truth in
judicial proceedings that the Parliament of Canada prescribes a criminal
sanction against falsehood in sworn testimony. The Criminal Code of Canada,
Part IV, determines that such a malfeasance is an offense against justice.
Part IV is entitled, "Offences against the administration of law and
justice", and its Sections 131 to 139 speak to the issues of falsehood,
untruth and prevarication under oath in judicial proceedings.
Section 131(1) states:
... every one commits perjury who, with intent to mislead, makes before a
person who is authorized by law to permit it to be made before him a false
statement under oath or solemn affirmation, by affidavit, solemn
declaration or deposition or orally, knowing that the statement is false.
The Criminal Code makes no exception for lawyers or anyone counselling
perjury.
The reports "Focus on Family Law" chapter reveals much about the current
state of the practice of family law in Ontario.
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