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N.S. judge says complaint about pressure to share vaccine status improperly dismissed

A Nova Scotia provincial court judge who says her rights were violated when her employer asked for her vaccine status wants her complaint against the court’s former top judge revived.

Judge Rickcola Brinton filed a complaint last June alleging judicial misconduct by Judge Pamela Williams, whose term as provincial court chief judge ended in August.

After that complaint was dismissed by Chief Justice of Nova Scotia Michael J. Wood last fall, Brinton filed for a judicial review of his decision.

During court proceedings in Halifax today, Brinton’s lawyers told Justice Christa Brothers that Brinton’s complaint was improperly handled and she was not given a chance to respond to the submissions used in the decision.

In a separate lawsuit against Williams and the provincial court, Brinton has argued that her rights to judicial independence and medical privacy were breached when Williams pressured her in October 2021 to reveal her COVID-19 vaccination status.

Brothers has reserved her decision on the complaint of judicial misconduct.

Brinton’s civil suit is scheduled to return to court on July 2.