Judge Ellis On The Hot Seat!

[betsy]

IRB judge offers refugee claimant visa for affair

Updated Tue. Oct. 3 2006 9:12 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

CTV News has obtained video of an Immigration and Refugee Board judge suggesting to a South Korean woman that he would approve her refugee application if she had an affair with him.

The video, shot by the woman's boyfriend, shows Steve Ellis meeting with the woman known as Kim outside of his chambers. He brought her confidential case file along.

"Let me see what I can do. I'm going to work on it. I really want to be friends with you," he told her.

Ellis said he planned to deport her but had second thoughts.

"The initial one was no, but now that I know you, I'm not going to be able to sleep if I say no. I won't be able to sleep," he said.

Ellis, a former Toronto city councillor, sought Kim out on two separate occasions after first hearing her case in July.

"I had no choice. When he asked me for the coffee, I had to meet him. I was afraid he would say no, deny my case," Kim told CTV News.

Brad Tripp, her boyfriend, said: "We knew the only thing to do was to record this because no one was going to believe us later."

In the video, Ellis tells Kim she's as beautiful as a model and offers to find her work: "We have to work hard to get you another job at a hotel or something."

Over the course of the 45-minute recording, it became too dark to videotape.

In the audio recording, Ellis suggests he can approve her application if she has an affair with him, but warned Kim not to tell her boyfriend.

"He might try to make trouble and say, `Oh yeah, this guy she fucked was a judge. She fucked him and that's why she is fucking him and that's why he said yes'," Ellis said.

Ellis seems to understand this risk of doing this.

"If we do this and it's shown I did this for improper purposes, then you are screwed too. We are both screwed. I'm in big trouble and your status is gone," he tells Kim.

Ellis, appointed to the board in 2000, would only tell CTV News: "I don't have anything to say right now. Thank you."

Kim sent the video to the chairman of the Immigration Appeal Board last week. He immediately suspended Ellis. The matter has been referred to the RCMP.

With a report from CTV's Robert Fife

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

[watching&waiting]

I saw that tape last night and yes it was more then disturbing. This guy needs to be prosecuted and jailed for what he has done, not to mention the damage he has done to the validity of the immigration court system. It is time to show that when people in the position of power abuse it, that they get the mandatory maximum sntence in the highest security prisons, as they are the ones who harm society the most.

[betsy]

I saw that tape last night and yes it was more then disturbing. This guy needs to be prosecuted and jailed for what he has done, not to mention the damage he has done to the validity of the immigration court system. It is time to show that when people in the position of power abuse it, that they get the mandatory maximum sntence in the highest security prisons, as they are the ones who harm society the most.

It makes you wonder how many applicants that should have been turned down got approved. I'm also thinking of national security.

[M.Dancer]

You think a blow job could endanger the nation........?

.......I know terrorists suck...but really......!

[Figleaf]

=

Edited July 22, 2007 by Figleaf

[betsy]

Technically speaking, this man was not a 'judge'. He was a board member.

(Typical CTV sloppiness!)

Is the Refugee board the same as Immigration? Just asking...confused with these two.

Because I think there was a previous scandal during Sgro's time that another immigration official was supposedly conducting interviews in bars.

[M.Dancer]

From the Grope and Flail.....

Before the federal appointment, Mr. Ellis served on Toronto city council. A descendent of Peter Matthews, one of two people hanged for participation in the 1837 rebellion, he was a two-term politician in Toronto's premegacity days.

He was remembered for his fights and his antics. He opposed smoking restrictions, island airport expansion plans and bicycle lanes on College Street.

On one memorable occasion he had to be dragged out of Metro Hall after lying on the carpet in an apparent protest against the proposed market-value assessment.

Commentators from those days remember a councillor who ignored critics and loved photo opportunities.

His presence at council ended with the 1997 election. He ran a distant fourth in the first election for the new megacity and vanished from the municipal scene.

That I find funny......

[watching&waiting]

Betsy

I believe that the refugee board handle claims that are made from within the country, and the Immigration handles those that apply from outside of Canada. Many refugee claims happen when people arrive here and then claim political prosecution if they return back to their home land. Whether he had the staus of judge or not, and I believe he does. He still abused his position of power to the lowest form. He deserves to be punished hashly. I know that to me, his kind of crime is far more dangerous to our society then most other crimes, so in my own personal view I would punish as I said earlier. At least then people will see these guys getting more then a slap on the wrist, and it will deter anyone who has thoughts about doing the same.

I am also aware that this was setup to get him to confess on tape by her boyfriend, but no one made this guy proposition her, and he did so of his own accord. If this person does not have any real deterents going against her refugee status, I would say that we should grant her that, as she has done our society a favour by showing us a bad apple. What I would not want to see is her deported so she can not testify, and then the charges are dropped. That would be a sign of much deeper problems.

[betsy]

Betsy

I believe that the refugee board handle claims that are made from within the country, and the Immigration handles those that apply from outside of Canada. Many refugee claims happen when people arrive here and then claim political prosecution if they return back to their home land. Whether he had the staus of judge or not, and I believe he does. He still abused his position of power to the lowest form. He deserves to be punished hashly. I know that to me, his kind of crime is far more dangerous to our society then most other crimes, so in my own personal view I would punish as I said earlier. At least then people will see these guys getting more then a slap on the wrist, and it will deter anyone who has thoughts about doing the same.

I am also aware that this was setup to get him to confess on tape by her boyfriend, but no one made this guy proposition her, and he did so of his own accord. If this person does not have any real deterents going against her refugee status, I would say that we should grant her that, as she has done our society a favour by showing us a bad apple. What I would not want to see is her deported so she can not testify, and then the charges are dropped. That would be a sign of much deeper problems.

Thank you for the info.

I watched MDuffy today...and it was said that in the House of Commons, only Olivia Chow raised a question about it. The Conservative strategist said that the accountability act is being delayed in the Senate by the Liberals....but that there is now an investigation by the RCMP.

The credibility of the Refugee Board and also Immigration are tarnished. I couldn't help but think this may not be the first time Ellis had done this (and it may not necessarily have to be sexual favors)....and who else in the board could be dealing in this kind of corruption.

[watching&waiting]

I see by the news today that Ellis was fired immediately and that now a police investigation into this is on going. That to me shows you a big difference between the old liberal and the CPC. If Liberals were in power this guy would still be working and possibly even get promoted to an area where he would not have contact. The CPC saw what was a wave of proof of his actions and took immediate action and fired the guy, and asked the RCMP to look into this for further prosecution. That is way more accountability in just one incident then the Libs did in 13 years.