Date: 20031028
Docket: T-1347-02
Citation: 2003 FC 1251
Ottawa, Ontario, October 28, 2003
PRESENT: THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE FRANÇOIS LEMIEUX
BETWEEN:
MARTIN TREMBLAY
Applicant
and
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
[1] The applicant Martin Tremblay is an inmate in the correctional system managed by Correctional Service Canada ("CSC").
[2] The purpose of his application for judicial review was to quash the CSC's decision at the third level of the grievance process on July 10, 2002, that the raising of his security rating from medium to maximum and his involuntary transfer to the Kingston maximum security penitentiary were justified.
[3] At the start of the hearing counsel for the respondent informed the Court that the application for judicial review was now moot, since on June 27, 2003, the CSC decided to lower the applicant's security rating to medium and return him to a medium security penitentiary.
[4] Counsel for Mr. Tremblay acknowledged that his application was now moot but wanted the Court to exercise its discretion to decide the judicial review in accordance with the rules stated by the Supreme Court of Canada in Borowski v. Attorney General of Canada, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 342.
[5] I cannot accept counsel for the applicant's invitation for three reasons.
[6] First, although the adversary context requirement stands, the Court's decision will have no concrete effect on the parties' rights; the case raises no question of public importance; the applicant will still have an effective means of asserting his rights if the same situation occurs again in future, and [it] concerns only the applicant's particular case, in a context of well-settled legislation and well-established judicial authority.
[7] Second, the applicant based his main argument on a lack of procedural fairness in his placement in administrative segregation when he was at the Drummond Institution. The question of whether in the circumstances the applicant's placement in administrative segregation was justified and whether there was a lack of procedural fairness (the applicant's allegation was that he could not defend himself because of the small amount of protected information provided linking him to unlawful activities in the institution, namely the collecting of and trafficking in drugs in the institution) is not before me. In the circumstances, his application for judicial review was actually an indirect attack on the problem of his administrative segregation, which is not permissible.
[8] Third, on the merits, it appears to the Court that the applicant's claims regarding the raising of his security rating and his involuntary transfer to the Kingston penitentiary are without basis, if I rely on the information provided by the CSC before these decisions were made (see Progress Report and AD, both dated April 18, 2002, and the AD of May 31, 2002).
ORDER
This application for judicial review is dismissed.
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"François Lemieux"
Judge
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Certified true translation
Suzanne M. Gauthier, C. Tr., LL.L.
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA
SOLICITORS OF RECORD
DOCKET: T-1347-02
STYLE OF CAUSE: MARTIN TREMBLAY
v.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA
PLACE OF HEARING: Montréal, Quebec
DATE OF HEARING: July 2, 2003
REASONS: LEMIEUX J.
DATE OF REASONS: October 28, 2003
APPEARANCES:
Sylvie Bordelais FOR THE APPLICANT
Éric Lafrenière FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
Sylvie Bordelais FOR THE APPLICANT
Montréal, Quebec
Morris Rosenberg FOR THE RESPONDENT
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
Montréal, Quebec
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