A Dawson City woman says Yukon’s justice minister could face a conflict of interest when it comes to a class-action lawsuit against the territorial government.
Last September, the Yukon Supreme Court gave the green light to a class-action lawsuit by students and parents of Jack Hulland Elementary School in Whitehorse. The parents allege a number of students at the school were subject to holds, restraints and seclusion between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2022.
The Yukon Department of Education is named as the defendant.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
For part of that time — from 2016 until 2021 — Justice Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee was also the territory’s education minister.
Elise McCormick of Dawson City recently wrote to the premier, outlining concerns she has with McPhee’s role in the case. McCormick wants reassurance that McPhee, as the territory’s attorney general, will not be able to exert any influence over what evidence is disclosed when the case is tried.
“There is reasonable appearance of an opportunity for Minister McPhee to further her own social or political interests while superintending any lawsuit,” McCormick wrote.
“If I am mistaken about the conflict of interest, and Minister McPhee is not required to recuse herself from acting as attorney general … then I urge you to direct her to waive confidentiality. The public would surely benefit from the legal certainty.”
McCormick wants the territory’s conflict of interest commissioner to review the issue. According to the territorial government’s website, the commissioner assists MLAs in identifying areas of possible conflict, and also investigates any complaints made by MLAs under the territory’s conflict of interest legislation.
“So the purpose of my letter to to the premier is to request that Minister McPhee seek that advice and make it public,” she said.
On Wednesday, the opposition Yukon Party brought the matter forward in the legislature. MLA Brad Cathers asked the premier how he intended to respond to McCormick’s letter.
Premier Ranj Pillai said his government would follow procedure.
“We do receive lots of different letters from Yukoners, and we take each and every one of them very seriously. In this particular case we’ve reviewed the letter that we received and passed [it] on,” he said.
“The undertaking is for any members of the legislative assembly is that they, either on their own accord or if something comes up, they can just refer their interest to David Jones, [who] is our conflicts commissioner.”
Pillai did not say whether McPhee had asked for this advice already.
CBC News requested an interview with McPhee at the legislature but only Pillai was made available.
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