Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley is defending the removal of four government lawyers from a case involving the province's Special Investigations Unit, the Ontario Provincial Police and the force's commissioner, Julian Fantino.
Just hours before the court case began Thursday morning in Toronto, the government lawyers from the Ministry of the Attorney General's office withdrew their representation for the SIU, which has alleged that Fantino and OPP officers violated the Police Act regarding SIU investigations.
Bentley said the four government lawyers withdrew — allowing the SIU to get independent counsel for the case — because there was a concern the government lawyers were becoming the focus of the case.
New Democrat MPP Peter Kormos noted other government lawyers are still working on the case, representing Fantino.
Earlier this week, it came to light that Ian Scott, the director of the SIU, together with the signed backing of the four provincial government lawyers had taken the unprecedented step of siding with a pair of grieving families involved in two fatal shooting by OPP officers.
The SIU has accused Fantino and a number of his officers of breaking the law by failing to properly co-operate with probes into last summer's shootings.
The watchdog has accused Fantino of failing to ensure officers promptly notified the SIU of one case last June.
In a second incident, Scott has accused Fantino of failing to ensure officers were properly segregated by allowing them to consult the same lawyer and to prepare two sets of notes — only submitting a final version of events vetted by their lawyer.
The SIU had the four Ministry of the Attorney General lawyers draft its legal position and sign the statement of facts for Thursday morning's court hearing.