Simon's Legal Resources

Presentation - Valiant Adjudicator Efforts Cases

. R. v. Robinson

In R. v. Robinson (Ont CA, 2025) the Ontario Court of Appeal denied a motion for waiver of the duty to file a transcript on a criminal appeal. The appellant had non-LSO assistance, and the court referenced "pseudo-legal arguments". This 13-paragraph ruling is worth reading to get a flavour for the court's unusual patience with this unrepresented appellant.

. Sieluzyck v.Ontario

In Sieluzyck v.Ontario (Div Court, 2024) the Divisional Court considered a court-system embarrassing case where seven separate party's counsel appeared to dispute a procedurally-messy multi-respondent self-presenter applicant HRTO JR (the whole case isn't long).

Here the court obviously makes extensive efforts to accomodate the self-presenting applicant (here with a misconceived time extension JRPA s.5 issue) - extending beyond the classical judicial role to one of almost amicus:

[1] In my endorsement dated June 13, 2024, I urged Mr. Sieluzycki to speak to a lawyer or a legal clinic about this application for judicial review of multiple administrative tribunal decisions.

[2] In that endorsement, I also scheduled a motion in writing for Mr. Sieluzycki to seek an extension of time to bring this proceeding under s. 5(2) of the Judicial Review Procedure Act, RSO 1990, c J.1. I waived all procedural technicalities to allow Mr. Sieluzycki to simply explain to the court why his application: (a) has merit; and (b) why there is no prejudice to the respondents due to Mr. Sieluzycki’s delay in commencing this proceeding. I also explained the necessity for Mr. Sieluzycki to satisfy the court of these two issues as required by s. 5 (2) of the statute.