Ontario Judge Never Took the 'Beaten Path'

“Judges don’t sit in Eiffel Towers just because they’re on the bench.” So says the Ontario Court of Justice’s Donald McLeod, Law’95, who certainly practises the community involvement he preaches. He recently accepted the chair of the new Federation of Black Canadians Steering Committee, a national non- profit, non-partisan organization partnered with other groups to advance the African-Canadian community’s social, economic, political and cultural interests. McLeod consulted the Court’s ethics committee in advance to avoid potential conflicts of interest, given that the federation’s mandate is to advocate for reforms in corrections, mental health and education. “We want to provide governments and organizations with solutions that will impact the Black community in a positive way,” he says. “That community is very diverse, but it understands the power of working together.” McLeod came to the bench from a “road-less-traveled” background.

From the age of four, when his father left the family, he was raised by his mother in Toronto social housing. She taught him “it’s important to work hard in order to do well.” When that hard work, mentoring, and scholarships got him into Queen’s Law, it was an “eye-opener,” he says. “I acquired a good understanding of the law as something organic, not limited to textbooks. That helped me when I argued cases before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario; I was continuously stretching the law.” On campus, he was Class VP and Queen’s Chapter President of the Black Law Students’ Association of Canada (which he continues to mentor). Another ongoing association with Queen’s Law is as a sessional instructor for Trial Advocacy. McLeod began practising at Hinkson, Sachak in Toronto, made partner in 2000, and in 2002 established his own firm, the McLeod Group, doing criminal, administrative, sports and entertainment law – “all facets of the law that related to my personality,” he says. “Not taking the beaten path was always the way I was going to go, because I wasn’t a ‘beaten path’ kind of lawyer.” Not surprisingly, his clients were a diverse group, including Olympic sprinter Donovan Bailey, former Toronto Argonaut “Pinball” Clemons, some Toronto Raptors, and one of the “Toronto 18” jihadis who pleaded guilty to planning terrorism. McLeod also successfully argued two major racism cases: R v. Golden at the SCC in 1999 – a case addressing the constitutionality of police strip searches; and in 2009 the landmark R v. Douse case that revolutionized the traditionally used racial vetting process by adding the consideration of non-conscious racism. In 2013, he was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton, making him Canada’s 29th Black judge since the late Maurice Charles broke the colour barrier in 1969. He‘s also the first Black judge to graduate from Queen’s University. Moving to the bench did not lessen McLeod’s community activism, especially if it would uplift and empower young Black males. He became a founder and chair of the 100 Strong Foundation, established in 2012 when a group of successful Black professionals funded a Toronto summer school program for 12- and 13-year-old Black boys. Some 80 per cent of the first 100 students enrolled not intending to complete high school; they emerged with a goal of earning two university degrees.

Since 2012, Justice McLeod has also led Black Robes, a professional development initiative that began informally when younger Black lawyers came to his Monday evening meetings to be mentored. It evolved into a more formalized “safe space” where African-Canadian new calls can speak freely and ask questions without embarrassment. McLeod says he’s paying forward the mentoring he received as a Black youth. “My template is the organizations that showed us what we could be.”