Top N.S. judges support ban on staff wearing poppies in courtrooms

Nova Scotia’s top judges are defending their peers’ decision to ask that staff not wear poppies in provincial courtrooms, a move slammed by Premier Tim Houston and others late last week. Article content

In a statement issued Sunday, Deborah Smith, chief justice of the province’s Supreme Court, and Perry Borden, chief judge of the provincial court, said the judges’ request was not about disrespecting veterans or denying remembrance, but rather about maintaining courtrooms as “unbiased and neutral” spaces. Article content Article content

They cited the Canadian Judicial Council’s Ethical Principles for Judges, which warns that even seemingly harmless symbols, like the poppy, “may be interpreted as reflecting a lack of impartiality or the use of the position of the judge to make a p