An Ontario man who vanished for three years after being found not criminally responsible for calling the German consulate in Toronto in December 2016 to say a terrorist attack was going to take place that coming weekend in Berlin has been released even though the hospital where he was being treated says he represents a significant threat to the public.

The Ontario Review Board ordered Stephen Clements’ detention at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in April 2022, where he was to live in approved accommodations in the community. But several weeks later, when hospital staffers tried to contact him, they discovered that he was no longer there, had quit his job and sold his cell phone. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but it wasn’t until this past April that police caught up with Clements after they fielded a call from the Sarnia Public Library complaining he was harassing a staffer there.

The review board conducted a hearing last month where it sought input from the same hospital that ordered Clements’ detention in 2022.

”It was the hospital’s position that Mr. Clements continued to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a continuation of the current detention order,” minus the parts that allowed Clements to live in the community, according to a recent decision from the review board.

Doctors weren’t alone in their concerns, according to the decision. “Counsel for the attorney general supported the hospital position.”

Despite opinions from medical professionals and the ministry responsible for administering the justice system, the board set Clements free.

“In our view the evidence is at best speculative with respect to a potential for serious harm as a result of conduct criminal in nature,” it said in a decision dated Aug. 12. “The board finds that the evidence does not support a conclusion that Mr. Clements represents a significant threat to the safety of the public and accordingly is entitled to be discharged absolutely. Although it may well be in Mr. Clements’ best interest to engage with mental health professionals to clarify a potential mental health diagnosis, that is not the test we are required to apply.”

The decision comes as Canada grapples with the wider issue of how we manage people found not criminally responsible and whether they are being released to the public too soon.

For his part, “Clements indicated that in his view there was no evidence to establish that he constituted a significant threat to the safety of the public and that he was accordingly entitled to be discharged absolutely.”

The five-person panel deciding his fate heard that in February 2019 Clements was found not criminally responsible on charges of making a terrorism hoax and obstructing police.

When he contacted the German consulate in Toronto Dec. 16, 2016, warning of an imminent terror attack in Berlin, “Clements said that he was acting as a facilitator, as he had received this information from a member of a terrorist cell who wanted out,” said the review board decision.

When the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, Canada’s counter-terrorism outfit, contacted him on Dec. 17, 2016, he “did not seem very coherent” and declined to provide any information about the alleged terrorist hoax. They arrested him.

“On Dec. 19, 2016, while Mr. Clements was in remand custody, a terrorist attack occurred in Berlin causing 12 deaths and dozens of injuries (approximately 50),” said the review board decision.

“A search of Mr. Clements phone and email account on the same day did not show any evidence of foreign communications that would indicate knowledge of the terrorist attack in Berlin.”

When Mounties interviewed him three days later, Clements “advised that a ‘higher power’ had told him about the attacks. He endorsed hearing voices that only he could hear. Both Jesus Christ and the devil spoke to him. He heard the voices first approximately one week before he contacted the consulate,” said the decision.

The decision notes his “current diagnosis is schizophrenia spectrum disorder.”

The psychiatrist who treated Clements just before last month’s hearing pointed to a hospital report that referred to his “history of violence” as well as the seriousness of the terrorism hoax. “He noted that Mr. Clements ‘likely’ suffers from a major mental disorder but the diagnosis has not yet been clarified. He advises that Mr. Clements has no insight into the need for treatment for future risk of violence although on a day-to-day basis he does well.”

A former director of the Rivercity Vineyard Church and Community Centre in Sarnia, which runs a shelter, indicated Clements had been actively involved there as both a volunteer and in a paid position for years. She “described no mental health or management concerns whatsoever concerning Mr. Clements. To the contrary, she described him as an ‘amazing worker’ with a ‘great heart.’”

She called Clements a “puppy dog,” explaining that that he “has been stable for the entirety of the time he has been at the shelter. He has his own private room and there is no limit on how long he may occupy that room so long as he continues to help at the shelter.”

The review board heard that since he was arrested and hospitalized in April, Clements “has been pleasant and sociable with staff and peers. His thoughts were clear and organized” and his “behaviour was not ‘obviously bizarre.’”

Clements testified that “since no one contacted him after the board hearing in April 2022 he thought the matter was concluded,” said the decision, which notes he then went to Halifax for more than a year before returning to Sarnia.

The review board didn’t buy his story about not knowing he had been ordered detained by the hospital. “The only reasonable inference to be drawn is that Mr. Clements was aware of the disposition but was refusing to be bound by it.”

It examined Clements’ “serious history of mental health and substance abuse issues, his lengthy criminal record, including assault, break and enter, and failures to comply, his (previously) paranoid and aggressive behaviour while in detention at the respondent facility, his resistance to treatment, including medications, his moderate to high risk scores on risk assessment tests, his breach of hospital rules, including attempting to abscond, and his lack of insight into the index offence, his condition and his need for treatment.”

It also accepted his psychiatrist’s opinion that Clements “posed a significant threat to public safety based on these factors.”

But board members had “serious concerns” about the conclusion that Clements has a “history of violence.”

“Although there is no doubt that the index offence was extremely serious with a potential for at a minimum serious psychological harm to individuals, there is little outside of that to support a finding that Mr. Clements has a ‘history of violence’ which significantly undermines the opinion of the hospital with respect to significant threat.”

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OTTAWA — The commission tasked with reviewing judicial compensation says that $414,900 per year isn’t enough to keep the bench attractive to top applicants and recommends the government increase judges’ salaries by at least $28,000.

“The current salary and benefits paid to judges are inadequate,” reads a report by the commission reviewing federally appointed judges’ compensation that was tabled in the House of Commons Wednesday.

“An increase to the judicial salary is required to ensure outstanding candidates continue to be attracted to the judiciary.”

The report recommends boosting judges’ salaries by $28,000 for regular provincial superior and appellate courts as well as federal courts, $30,000 for chief justices and $36,000 for the chief justice of the Supreme Court, all retroactive to April 2024.

Most federally appointed judges currently make $414,900 (except members of the Supreme Court who make $494,100) and chief justices earn about $40,000 more. Their salaries are indexed annually following the industrial aggregate, which generally exceeds the Consumer Price Index.

The commission also recommends increasing the salary of associate judges from 80 per cent to 95 per cent of a regular federally appointed justice.

The report was sent in July to Justice Minister Sean Fraser, who has four months to decide how he will respond to the recommendations impacting over 1,200 judges. The suggested raise would cost the government over $34 million.

The decision is far from simple for Fraser as Prime Minister Mark Carney looks to cut the federal government’s salary and operating costs.

Carney has asked each department to cut their budget by 15 per cent in the next few years amid growing concern over government spending.

In a statement, Fraser’s spokesperson, Jeremy Bellefeuille, said the minister was reviewing the report and would respond in due time.

The commission’s report focuses on a single issue at the centre of a months-long battle between the government and the judiciary: is judges’ annual compensation enough to keep attracting top legal applicants to provincial and federal courts?

As National Post reported in July

, judges’ associations argued magistrates needed a $60,000 raise retroactive to April 2024 to maintain the appeal of a job that is increasingly struggling to attract “outstanding candidates.”

The federal government countered that judges’ salary and benefits — including “one of the best retirement plans in Canada” — did not require a $60,000 “bonus” to keep the job attractive.

Ultimately, the commission’s conclusion fell squarely in the middle. Whereas it agreed with judges that the salary is too low to continue attracting top applicants in the long run, it also found that $60,000 was too much.

“The Commission agrees with the Judiciary that the significant gap between judicial salaries and the private sector comparator warrants an increase to the current judicial salary; however, we do not agree with the amount of the increase proposed by the Judiciary,” reads the report.

“Our recommendation is intended to be fair to the judiciary and to the taxpayer, to strike the right balance between the two, and to be in the public interest.”

The key concern highlighted by both judges’ associations and the commission’s report is that too few “highly qualified” private-sector lawyers are applying to become judges.

That could ultimately lead to a dearth of necessary skills and expertise on the bench in the long term, concluded the three-member Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission chaired by lawyer and businesswoman Anne Giardini.

The diminishing interest also means vacant positions will be harder and take longer to fill, risking another “crisis” like one in 2023 when the judicial vacancy rate sat at nearly 10 per cent.

“While a shortage has been averted for now, the pressures of rising private sector incomes are such that the ability to maintain an adequate level of private sector appointments to fill judicial vacancies is of ongoing concern. We are persuaded that the effects of past shortages are continuing to rebound within the justice system,” reads the report.

“So while the pool of individuals in the last 4-year period was more than adequate to fill all the positions, we see clear warning signs that salaries are going to be a factor leading to highly qualified private sector lawyers electing not to apply to the judiciary.”

The commission said it was particularly swayed by comments by Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz detailing his struggle in convincing private sector lawyers to join the court.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

• Judges say they need a $60,000 raise to attract top talent. The government disagrees
• ‘Very difficult’ to be a Canadian judge and it’s ‘deteriorating,’ says Supreme Court chief justice

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With the

announcement this week

of the closure of 12 more Beer Store locations in Ontario — bringing the total number of closures to almost 80 this year — consumers may need to rely more on convenience stores and grocers for their alcohol purchases.

But some independent grocers say

new rules

requiring grocery stores that sell alcohol to also accept returns of empty bottles and cans in the new year may force them to go dry.

David LaMantia is a third-generation grocer in Lindsay, Ont., a community in the Kawartha Lakes region northeast of Toronto. His store, LaMantia’s Country Market Fresh,

dates back to 1928

. He’s been selling alcohol since 2015 but is planning to get out of the market when the new laws take effect on Jan. 1.

“Are we going to take back empties?” he said to National Post. “No. I mean, the government may have the luxury of not being concerned about food safety for their customers, but we certainly are. So I can’t have contaminated products coming back into my store.”

LaMantia’s point, echoed by others in the industry, is that beer cans and wine bottles don’t generally come back clean. They may contain dregs, cigarette butts and broken glass. Some may have been collected from blue bins or even the side of the road. None of these go well in a grocery store.

“So there’s an opportunity cost,” he said. “I need really two areas. I need an area to receive it initially, when the customer returns these items, and then a place in the backroom storage area … pending it being picked up.”

Gordon Dean, another member of a long-time grocery family, owns and operates five stores in Ontario and Quebec under the name

Mike Dean Local Grocer

. He’s been collecting empties since November when the law kicked in for his business, but he’s been holding his nose. Sometimes literally.

“I’m not a fan,” he said. “We sell fresh food. We’ve made our careers and our livings in selling fresh groceries, and it really just does not mix with dirty empties in the same building.”

He added: “I ask people, where do you put your empties? Nobody leaves their empties in the kitchen. Everybody puts them in the basement, in the garage. It’s really the same principle in a grocery store.”

Receiving them puts them “in the same building as your croissants being baked and your romaine lettuce being put on display and your your hamburger being ground. There’s just nothing about it that’s that’s appealing or safe, right? It’s just a horrible idea.”

His solution: A separate storage area out of sight in the back. “But it’s still in the same building … I still struggle with that. I’m doing it because the government requires me to do it, (but) I’ve been saying since the start, this is just a bad idea.”

Then there are the bins used to carry the empties away.

“They don’t get washed in the Beer Store’s process of handling returns,” he said. “They don’t consider the food safety aspect at all. These come into our buildings gross and dirty and filled with residual broken glass, residual juices and beer and wine leftovers. I’m a grocer. Keeping things clean is what we start our day with and end our day with; the first thing we look at is cleanliness and sanitation.”

His friends in the business are shy about taking up sales themselves or, like LaMantia, plan to stop in the new year.

“Most of my friends own grocery stores in the province, and at least half of them have … firmly said they’re done, if this actually comes to fruition. They won’t be staying in the beer and wine business. They just aren’t comfortable doing it.”

Another issue is that, with fewer Beer Stores, grocers say they may find themselves picking up the slack on empties. According to its

2024 operational report

, The Beer Store that year had 407 locations, down from 424 two years earlier. In the same period, the LCBO added eight locations for a total of 688.

Ontario has mandated The Beer Store keep at least 300 stores open the end of 2025. But

the document in question

added: “After January 1, 2026, TBS (The Beer Store) shall be entitled to close any retail location as determined by TBS in its sole and absolute discretion.”

Industry groups are pushing back against the requirement to take empties. Gary Sands, senior vice-president at the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, said one idea is for LCBO stores to step in.

“The last time I checked, they don’t sell food, but they also don’t have to accept empties,” he said. “Why? Why can’t the LCBO, as a government agency, take them back? They don’t have to worry about the food safety issue. We’ve never received an explanation on that.”

Michael Zabaneh, vice-president of sustainability at the Retail Council of Canada, noted that grocery stores are also hampered by higher prices on alcohol — a 10 per cent discount, as opposed to the 15 per cent offered to bars, restaurants and convenience stores.

“Retailers are at a complete disadvantage,” he said, “because convenience stores have a lower costs of goods sold, as does the LCBO, obviously. And grocers, with the higher cost of goods sold, are the only ones required to take back containers.”

He added: “If grocers exit, shoppers will lose the convenience of picking up a sixpack at the grocery store, and face fewer places to buy alcohol. And with The Beer Store winding down, there’ll be less places to return alcohol containers.”

In a statement to National Post, Colin Blachar, director of media at Ontario’s Minister of Finance, said: “

Along with The Beer Store, over 400 grocery stores, LCOs (LCBO Convenience Outlets) and convenience stores currently participate in the ODRP (Ontario Deposit Return Program) with numbers expected to continue to grow over the coming months. This will provide more options to consumers looking to utilize the return system.”

National Post has reached out to The Beer Store for comment.

• The Beer Store is closing these Ontario locations. Here’s what we know
• The Beer Store to get $225M as Ontario expands alcohol sales

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

An Ontario man involved in a violent encounter with an intruder in his own apartment has been charged with assaulting the wanted man.

Around 3:30 a.m. Monday, the 44-year-old homeowner was awoken to find an intruder inside his Kent Street apartment in Lindsay, Ont., according to

Kawartha Lakes Police.

Police said the two had an “altercation,” during which the 41-year-old intruder suffered “serious life-threatening injuries.”

The Lindsay man, already wanted by police concerning unrelated events, was taken to Ross Memorial Hospital and later airlifted to a hospital in Toronto.

Once released from the hospital, he will face charges of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose; break, enter and theft; mischief under $5,000; and failing to comply with a probation order.

He’ll also be held in custody, pending a bail hearing.

The homeowner, meanwhile, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon. He was released and is due back in court at a later date.

This is not the first time a homeowner has been charged while allegedly defending themselves or their property.

In June, a 35-year-old Ontario man who fired a gun at five individuals attempting to steal his White Lamborghini was charged with discharging a firearm, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, careless storage of a firearm and unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm.

None of the apprehended suspects — three adults and one youth — were injured.

“York Regional Police understands the fear and frustration an incident like this may cause in a neighbourhood. However, we want to make clear that discharging a firearm in a residential area is extremely dangerous,”

York Regional Police posted on X.

“You risk hurting innocent people, including neighbours, your own family, or responding officers. Taking justice into your own hands is not the answer.”

Global News

later reported that the man had already called the police before firing.

Two years prior in Milton, 22-year-old Ali Mann was charged with second-degree murder after he fired on one of four people who entered his home, killing one of them.

Police said at least one of the assailants had a gun, and the three who weren’t hit escaped.

“The charges laid in relation to the shooting … are serious and are reflective of the evidence collected by homicide and forensic investigators,” the Halton Police Service said in

a statement to National Post

at the time.

Lawyer Jag Virk issued a statement defending his client, noting Mian is a registered gun owner who was only trying to protect his single mother from an armed man.

“His intention was not to kill the intruder, he only shot at him once,” Virk wrote.

The charges were withdrawn in July, per

CBC

.

Homeowners don’t always face charges.

In January 2023, a Halifax man escaped charges after one of three people who illegally entered his residence, “at least one of whom has a firearm,” according to

police

, died following an altercation.

In early December that year, another Halifax man avoided criminal charges after he stabbed one of two people who had broken into his home. The stabbing victim, 26-year-old Anthony Robert Herritt, later died of his injuries.

“There has been a fairly substantial investigation done,” Halifax Regional Police Const. John McLeod told National Post in an interview at the time, noting the Crown was “not comfortable moving ahead with charges” against the resident.

• Why Ontario man faces murder charge for defending his home, while a N.S. man doesn’t
• No charges for home-invasion stabbing death in latest test of self-defence law

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

An arbitrator has ordered that a white Toronto teacher who was terminated after he showed up at school in blackface for Halloween and told people he was dressed as a zombie should be reinstated and compensated for all wages and benefits lost in the last 20 months.

Gorian Surlan showed remorse for his actions, according to an arbitrator, who substituted a nearly two-year suspension for the high school teacher’s penalty. Surlan, who had been teaching for 19 years, came to work at Parkdale Collegiate Institute in black face makeup and black clothing on Oct. 29, 2021.

He wore the costume to an assembly that morning dubbed “Where Everybody Belongs” that was attended by about 250 Grade 9 students and their mentors. Three students approached their vice-principal about Surlan’s costume, saying he was in blackface. One student showed her a photo of his costume. Two of them were visibly upset and one was crying, Norm Jesin, the arbitrator, wrote in a decision dated Aug. 14.

“She told (Surlan) that students were upset at seeing him in blackface. (He) did not seem to understand the issue but apologized anyways,” according to Jesin’s decision.

“He was asked if he was aware of the controversy over Justin Trudeau appearing as Aladdin in blackface. He said he was but that he was not trying to depict any person. Rather he was attempting to portray a zombie.”

• Trudeau’s blackface crisis: What Butts and Telford knew about the photos before news broke
• A Black Montreal artist won’t change puppet that groups say looks like blackface

Surlan, now 63, grieved his termination, arguing he “was unjustly discharged from his employment on November 15, 2021, contrary to the collective agreement between” the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and the Toronto District School Board.

Born in Serbia, he witnessed many atrocities while working for the International Red Cross during the Bosnian war.

Those “left a deep impact on him,” said the arbitrator.

Surlan moved to Canada in 1992 to pursue a teaching career.

“He became a member of the Ontario College of Teachers and obtained qualifications in a number of disciplines including business studies, special education, librarianship, cooperative education and English as a second language,” Jesin said.

He took sabbaticals every five years, teaching in Nigeria and Vietnam, and had no previous discipline record before the blackface incident, said the arbitrator.

Surlan’s Halloween costume nearly four years back “was hastily put together that morning with the assistance of his daughter,” Jesin said.

“His daughter provided him with some black make-up, so he decided to attend as something scary. He dressed in a black shirt, black pants and black shoes. He painted his whole face black and then proceeded to put a black fabric mask over his face in order to become compliant with COVID-19 protocols in existence at the time.”

Before Halloween celebrations in 2021, the school had emailed teachers “reminding staff of the harm resulting from cultural appropriation when choosing a costume,” said the arbitrator.

“The email further provided sources that could be reviewed dealing with the topic of cultural appropriation. Those sources did not relate specifically to blackface. The grievor had read the email before choosing a costume but did not read the sources that were contained in the email.”

One student texted a photo of Surlan’s costume to his parents, later describing “the class as being shocked and upset” their business teacher, who sometimes discussed current events with them, was dressed in blackface.

When students and colleagues asked Surlan what “he was dressed as, he would respond with ‘I don’t know, a zombie.’”

At the meeting with the vice-principal after the assembly, she told Surlan “to wash his face and to return to class, which he did,” said the arbitrator’s decision.

The incident was widely reported “and resulted in a swift reaction from the Parkdale community,” it said.

A photo of Surlan with his face painted black, wearing a black T-shirt and a blue surgical mask, also made the news.

“The reaction included events such as organized marches and protests. The board received many calls from parents and community members wondering how such an event could occur.”

Surlan was placed on a leave of absence pending an investigation.

“During the investigation the grievor expressed his remorse over the incident. He stated that he did not know the significance of blackface when he donned his costume. He was horrified that he traumatized students and staff and had no intention to do so. He stated that he wished that someone had approached him earlier in the morning to warn that he would be considered as ‘cosplaying a person of colour.’ He stated further that he was trying to educate himself and that he was ashamed of his ignorance. He deeply regretted his actions now knowing how offensive they were.”

The board terminated him on Nov. 15, 2021, because he “knew or ought to have known that his conduct was contrary to board policy,” and the effect his actions had “on the school and the community at large was severe, long lasting and irreversible.”

The board determined that outweighed Surlan’s “long record of service and his clean disciplinary record.”

His termination letter said Surlan’s conduct “may reasonably be described as racist.”

Surlan completed “an individualized course of study focussing on anti-black racism and blackface” in June 2023.

“As of October 1, 2023, upon confirmation to the (Ontario College of Teachers that Surlan) had completed this program, his status with the college was restored to good standing.”

The teachers’ federation “insists that discharge was an excessive response in the circumstances,” said the decision.

The arbitrator accepted that Surlan’s decision to wear blackface to school justified “a significant penalty.”

But Jesin said he couldn’t ignore that once the teacher “realized that his costume had caused this upset, he was horrified that he had not been aware of the issue. He quickly studied the issue, apologized for his actions and was clearly very contrite.”

A significant suspension “would be likely to have the desired effect of ensuring that (Surlan) would be more sensitive to the cultural sensitivities that present in a diverse community and would be unlikely to commit such misconduct a second time,” said the arbitrator. “This is a case in which there is no reason to conclude that the employment relationship is incapable of rehabilitation. “

Jesin said he appreciated “that the reaction of the student body as well as the community at large to (Surlan’s) costume must properly be considered by the board in determining a penalty. But surely these constituents, with the passage of time, can (be) asked to accept that the (teacher) has acknowledged not only his mistake, but the pain that his mistake has caused. In my view, this is an appropriate case for reinstatement.”

• Trudeau’s blackface crisis: What Butts and Telford knew about the photos before news broke
• A Black Montreal artist won’t change puppet that groups say looks like blackface