A Brampton judge will face a second disciplinary hearing following an allegation that he committed perjury when he testified at his first disciplinary hearing.

Ontario Court Justice Donald McLeod was cleared of judicial misconduct in December 2018 by a discipline panel of the Ontario Judicial Council over his involvement with an advocacy group called the Federation of Black Canadians (FBC).

The council is now alleging that McLeod “committed perjury and/or misled the hearing panel” at that hearing regarding his involvement in the deportation case of former child refugee Abdoul Abdi, according to a notice of hearing filed with the council.

At the first hearing, McLeod testified he was not involved in the federation’s advocacy work regarding the Abdi case.

“Contrary to his evidence at the hearing, Justice McLeod was involved in the FBC’s efforts in this regard, including arranging and/or participating in a meeting with the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, on behalf of the FBC,” the council alleges.

The second disciplinary hearing is set for July. None of the council’s allegations have been proven.

In a response filed with the judicial council, McLeod’s lawyers argue that the evidence at the second hearing will show that he did not commit perjury or intentionally mislead the discipline panel. McLeod did meet with the immigration minister in January 2018, but not about the Abdi case, his lawyers say.

McLeod’s lawyers, Frank Addario and Wesley Dutcher-Walls, write that the evidence will show that the council did not interview anyone with first-hand knowledge of the meeting with the minister, which forms the basis of the perjury allegation.

“The evidence will show that the alleged discussion about the Abdi case did not take place at the private meeting between Justice McLeod and Minister Hussen,” says the response. “The choice not to investigate this matter thoroughly led to a notice of hearing that contains unnecessary allegations against Justice McLeod.”

According to a complaint received by the council in March 2019 — and which was redacted to cover the identity of the complainant — the allegations against McLeod stem from a blog post by Toronto journalist and author Desmond Cole, who has covered McLeod’s discipline case and his role with the Federation of Black Canadians.

McLeod also faces allegations that he misled the first disciplinary panel about having disengaged from the activities on behalf of the FBC, and that he appeared at political events on behalf of the FBC in 2019, allegedly engaging in behaviour that could be seen as “impermissible advocacy and lobbying.”

His lawyers say he returned to the FBC in a limited role in 2019, which they say conformed to the legal rules set out by the panel at his first disciplinary hearing. They say he did not engage in advocacy and was not involved in fundraising or applying for government grants.

Finally, the council levelled allegations against McLeod regarding an incident that allegedly took place on Parliament Hill in 2019, in which a security guard requested a group of Black attendees at the National Black Summit to leave the cafeteria.

The council alleges McLeod told two youth delegates to the summit who witnessed the incident not to speak publicly about it.

“His Honour’s counselling in this regard was or could be perceived as providing legal advice, and was part of and meant to further the advocacy of the FBC,” the council alleges.

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McLeod’s lawyers say he had a phone conversation with the two delegates and did not “pressure or intimidate” them.

“Justice McLeod drew upon his own experiences as a Black man in Canada to provide advice to the youth delegates about the potential outcomes of making public allegations of racial profiling against law enforcement,” the lawyers wrote in their response. “This was personal advice.”