.. RULING NUMBER COM SB 003/2016
COMMISSION HEARING TORONTO, ONTARIO – FEBRUARY 26, 2016
NOTICE OF DECISION
IN THE MATTER OF THE RACING COMMISSION ACT, S.O. 2000, c.20;
AND IN THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL AND REQUEST FOR HEARING BY
CALLUM ROBINSON
Date of Hearing: February 26, 2016
ORC Panel: John W. Macdonald, Commissioner
Representative for the Appellant: Self-represented
Counsel: Luisa Ritacca
Decision: The Panel denied the appeal.
A transcript with the Panel’s oral Reasons for Decision is attached to this Notice
DATED at Toronto this 29^th^ day of February 2016.
______________________________
Jean Major
Executive Director
ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF THE APPEAL AND REQUEST FOR
HEARING OF CALLUM ROBINSON
Hearing date: Friday, February 26, 2016
Chairman: John Macdonald
This is the ruling in the above-mentioned
matter held before the Ontario Racing Commission,
taken at 10 Carlson Court, Suite 400 Toronto,
Ontario, on the Friday, 26th day of February, 2016.
1 --- Upon commencing at 2:09 p.m.
2 THE COMMISSIONER: I've reviewed all of the
3 exhibits, the conviction information, the numerous
4 applications that have been made over a period,
5 including the one from 2015. I have heard the
6 evidence and listened to the argument.
7 While I note that there are some
8 prohibitions, being the parole conditions for Mr.
9 Robinson that expire on April the 26th this year, the
10 judge's order, which is attached to the indictment
11 material as Exhibit 6 has, as counsel has noted,
12 provisions that carry on for a longer period of time;
13 like the position of Mr. Robinson being on the sex
14 offender's information registry for, the way I read
15 it, for life, and there's weapons prohibition for ten
16 years.
17 And one that I draw your attention to is the
18 order for a period of 20 years where he's prohibited
19 from attending a public park, public swimming, area
20 where a person is under the age of 16 present or can
21 reasonably be expected to be present, or a daycare
22 centre, school ground, playground and community centre
23 unless under the direct supervision of another
24 responsible person over the age of 18. I'll come back
25 to that in a minute.
1The real concern is disclosure, and while
2 others who are not here were involved in it appeared
3 helping Mr. Robinson fill out the application form,
4 they were all signed by an employer. An employer --
5 and also in the case of Mr. Watt -- has some duty of
6 care because it's a responsibility as to the industry
7 as a whole that the application form is not to be
8 treated lightly. It's information and it only started
9 being disclosed, about the record, in 2004. And even
10 for the application of 2015 it's still not accurate
11 and fully disclosed.
12 Mr. Watt said he takes some responsibility
13 for that, but you can't rely, as he thought, on the
14 fact there would be due diligence done by the
15 investigators for the Ontario Racing Commission. You
16 can imagine what would happen if everybody started
17 doing that. Well, you know, they can figure it out,
18 let's let them worry about it. We'll just fill in the
19 form and just leave it there.
20 Too many applicants might just do that and
21 it's more than careless, it's irresponsible.
22 So you can't rely on an investigator to do
23 the work for you. This is disclosure, it's a
24 voluntary disclosure and that's important.
25 It's been said before and a few times here –
1 a little trite, but an ORC licence is a privilege and
2 not a right. The future of the horse racing industry
3 is directly tied to the public perception that it's
4 honest, fair and integrity is the cornerstone of the
5 sport and business of the horse racing.
6 The obligation is on the applicant and --
7 sorry -- to answer honestly. And I go on to say that
8 while there is some concern about Mr. Robinson and the
9 fact that he admires the horses and likes to work with
10 them and he does some, there is no evidence before us
11 that he has benefitted from the counselling and
12 programs he said he had while he was in jail. There's
13 suggestion he had some treatments there. There's no
14 indication, since we don't have that material before
15 us, monitoring that he has been rehabilitated. So I
16 can't consider that.
17 The significance of that is counsel, Mr. Watt
18 on behalf of Mr. Robinson, was forthright when he said
19 maybe we can do a licence with a condition.
20 The difficulty of that is enforcing those
21 conditions. It would be almost impossible for that,
22 especially in a location where the licencee would be
23 at the racetrack or various barns or anything else.
24 That's almost impossible.
25 And that's when I go back to the judge's
1 decision, because if it had been brought to the
2 attention of the judges, they may have just added
3 also, because it says "persons under the age of 16 are
4 present or can reasonably be expected to be present."
5 And in the situation in the horse business,
6 that means the back stretch and the barns. I hate to
7 admit it, but the youngsters are getting stronger and
8 smarter than I certainly was at that age, so they are
9 going to be working with the horses and they can get a
10 licence, and there are a lot of youngsters that are
11 now racing drivers. So they are going to be there.
12 And there are a lot more females in the business than
13 there were 25 or 30 years ago. That's just a fact of
14 life.
15 So that's an impossible thing to do, as far
16 as making a condition.
17 We have the statute that tells us -- that's
18 the Ontario Racing Commission Act, section 19(a) --
19 that:
20 "The director shall refuse a licence to an
21 applicant or to renew the licence if there are
22 reasonable grounds to believe that while the applicant
23 carries out activities for which a licence is
24 required, the applicant will not at in accordance with
25 law," and this is important, "or with integrity,
1 honesty or in the public interest having regard to the
2 past conduct of the applicant."
3 The difficult here is while there may have
4 been some rehabilitation as recent as the most recent
5 application, the form was not filled in completely or
6 accurately so there was still a failure to disclose,
7 and that gives me the concern that this applicant
8 should be refused a licence, so that I'm going to
9 confirm the order of the executive director and the
10 proposal that the licence be refused.
11 Any questions counsel?
12 MS. RITACCA: Thank you.
13 THE COMMISSIONER: Mr. Watt?
14 MR. WATT: Thank you for your kindness and
15 your patience through the whole procedure.
16 The COMMISSIONER: Well, off the record.
17 (DISCUSSION OFF THE RECORD).
18 --- Whereupon at 4:31 p.m. the proceedings were
19 concluded.
20
21 * * * * * * *
22
23 This is to hereby certify
that the forgoing excerpt
is a true and accurate
transcript of the
proceedings to the best
of my skill and ability.
________________________
Sandra Brereton
Certified Court Reporter
Registered Professional Reporter