Subseries 1 - Government Projects—Ontario

0.4 m of textual records

This subseries contains material on three Ontario Government projects with which I was involved. Various other Ontario Government projects that I worked on are contained in other Subseries, such as those on Securities Regulation and Legal Aid.

Shortly after I returned from my year in Cambridge in the summer of 1961 I worked with Desmond Morton on a study of gambling in Ontario, with specific reference to off-track betting (file 2). I was counsel to the committee that had been established by the Attorney General. Des Morton was the head of the criminology program at Osgoode Hall Law School, with whom I worked at Osgoode. A report was completed in November 1961, which recommended that off-track betting be permitted (files 3 and 4).

In 1966 I became a member of the Minister of Reform Institutions Committee on Regional Detention Centres which were designed to replace the old county jails (files 5 and 6). Joe McCulley, the former Warden of Hart House, was the chair of the committee, which included as members Anne Dubin, architect Harry Kohl, Professor John Spencer, AM Kirkpatrick of the John Howard Society, and G Arthur Martin. There were meetings throughout 1965-67 (files 7-9). A report was presented in 1967 which led to the establishment of regional detention centres across the province (file 10).

In June 1992 I was asked by the Attorney General’s Department to work on a Cabinet submission designed to set up a commission to examine systemic racism in the justice system. Stephen Lewis had brought in a report following the riot on Yonge Street which stated that steps should be taken to deal with racism in the justice system (file 11). I prepared a draft cabinet submission with an accompanying appendix on the research
methodology that could be adopted by the commission (files 13 and 14). The files contain material on a meeting of July 23, 1992 at which about 40 to 50 members of various visible minority communities took part. They were led by Dudley Laws, who wanted the commission headed by someone who was committed to his position (file 12). He apparently thought that the Commission had already been set up and that I was the head of it. The commission was later set up following a cabinet submission and Judge David Cole and Margaret Gittens became the co-chairs of the Commission (file 15). In January 1993 I took part in an all-day research workshop organised by the Commission (file 16). They produced an excellent report.

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