House arrest for former Ottawa judge who stole from Catholic church

The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that "a former small claims court judge who pocketed a quarter of a million dollars from the cemetery funds of his Catholic church will spend the next year under house arrest."

Ronald Houlahan was an Ottawa lawyer who served as a small claims court deputy judge. This is why judges need to be accountable to the public in Canada. I remember speaking with one concerned citizen at a local criminal justice rally. He said to me "at what point does a crooked lawyer become an honest judge? Is there some kind of epiphany that is suposed to take place because I'm not seeing it. "