In what circumstances will a judge step aside from hearing a motion alleging bias?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Masoumi, 2018 ONCJ 576 (CanLII):

As pointed out by Doherty J.A. in Beard Winter LLP v. Shekhdar, 2016 ONCA 493, at para. 10: It is important that justice be administered impartially. A judge must give careful consideration to any claim that he should disqualify himself on account of bias or a reasonable apprehension of bias. In my view, a judge is best advised to remove himself if there is any air of reality to a bias claim. That said, judges do the administration of justice a disservice by simply yielding to entirely unreasonable and unsubstantiated recusal demands. Litigants are not entitled to pick their judge. They are not entitled to effectively eliminate judges randomly assigned to their case by raising specious partiality claims against those judges. To step aside in the face of a specious bias claim is to give credence to a most objectionable tactic.

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