THUNDER BAY - Justice Terrence Platana has always viewed his time on the bench as a public service and after serving for more than 27 years he is planning to retire so he can continue to serve the public in new ways.
“I’ve always looked at it like being a public servant, recognizing that a judge’s role is to serve the public in terms of giving them answers to their disputes,” he said. “To be an effective judge, you have to have that mind set.”
A swearing-out ceremony was held for Platana at the Thunder Bay Courthouse on Tuesday before his fellow justices, family, and members of the law community.
While the ceremony is not as formal as the swearing-in ceremony for incoming justices, Platana sees it as an opportunity to say thank you to all the colleagues he has worked with throughout his long career.
Platana attended law school at the University of Ottawa and was a practicing lawyer for more than 17 years. In 1991, he was called to the bench and served as a judge for 27 years.
“I can honestly say, when I was in law school, we used to have judges come in and speak to us in our classes,” Platana said. “I was honestly impressed with them and I can say that way back then, the thought started to percolate in my mind that I would like to do that and I was fortunate enough to do that.”
At 74-years-old, Platana is retiring just before the mandatory age of 75 for justices. Looking back at his long career, Platana said he does not look for accomplishments per se, but rather whether he was able to serve the people in his courtroom.
“I hope what I was able to accomplish was when I sat in court that people could leave knowing they had been listened to and that they had been treated fairly,” he said. “In terms of accomplishments, I look at it more in terms of the types of cases I’ve heard over the years. That’s where a lot of the memories come in.”
Platana oversaw a variety of cases, from criminal proceedings to complicated civil disputes, with each case offering unique sets of challenges.
“Some of the criminal cases certainly stand out because often in some of those cases you can see and hear some pretty memorable things that stick out at the time, and you sort of hope that you forget about them,” he said.
“Civil cases, I’ve dealt with a couple of long civil cases that were challenging, but that is the nature of the job. You want to be challenged.”
And those challenges are what Platana would like to see others in the law profession face head on, so that they too might aspire to one day being called to the bench.
“In terms of ultimately becoming a judge I hope all lawyers work hard enough that at some point in time they might think about becoming a judge,” he said. “I think it is a marvelous profession. It was extremely good for me. I think we still look upon law as an honourable profession so I would certainly highly encourage anybody who is interested in it to do so.”
Now that he is retired, Platana said he hopes to continue with piano lessons he recently started, as well as learning how to bake. But most importantly, he wants to continue to serve the community, even if it isn’t from the bench.
“I’m going to see what kind of community volunteer situations I hope to get involved in,” he said. “This life as a judge has been very rewarding for me and now the time I’m going to have in my hands, it’s time to give back.”
