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Applying the Jordan framework: Are courts placing too much of the burden on the defence?
In R v. Jordan, the Supreme Court put a hard cap on the duration of criminal trials — sending a thrill of panic through the justice system in the process. The ruling is roughly two and a half years old now. Time for the training wheels to come off.Now, that backlog of pre-Jordan charges has been largely cleared — the transitional period is over. But Crown and defence lawyers alike report that trial times aren’t speeding up; statistics cited in a recent Law Times article show that in the Ontario Court of Justice, average times to disposition and the number of court appearances have not diminished since Jordan. If the SCC intended the ruling as a salutary shock to the system, it didn’t work.So what happens now?
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2018-12-18
RCMP’s forensic firearm testing backlog adding delays to justice system
The RCMP’s forensics labs are taking nearly four times longer to analyze firearms than they did just four years ago, adding delays to a criminal justice system under pressure to speed up after a recent Supreme Court decision.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2018-12-16
Court delays persist, despite Jordan
The Supreme Court of Canada decision in Jordanand the problems it tried to address are still top of mind in the criminal courts in Ontario nearly two-and-a-half years after it was released.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2018-12-03
The performance pay saga reaches a settlement
The issue is the prorating of performance pay in relation to pre-promotion period for the year in which lawyers are promoted. If a lawyer was eligible for performance pay and was promoted during the year, the Employer, rather than pay out a prorated performance pay for the period pre-promotion, paid out nothing at all regardless of your performance rating for the year. The AJC originally filed a grievance in 2011 and in response to that grievance, TB had conceded in the context of the adjudication hearing that pre-promotion service should be recognized. Unfortunately, the adjudicator originally disregarded TB's concession in his decision of 2015, requiring the AJC to file an application for judicial review, which eventually resulted on December 22, 2016 in a remedy limited to the right to pre-promotion performance pay for the year 2010-2011. Thus, the AJC filed another policy grievance on July 27th 2016. The hearing was scheduled for October 2018. We are pleased to announce that we now have a signed Memorandum of Settlement on this matter with TB.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2018-10-30
Not all Questions are Good Questions: Avoiding Discriminatory Interview Practices
Much ink has been spilled over a recent decision by the Commission de la fonction publique (the "Commission") on the topic of discriminatory interview practices. In Association des procureurs aux poursuites criminelles et pénales et Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales[1], the Commission found that the plaintiff had been discriminated against when she was denied a position due to her pregnancy.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2018-10-11
Federal government facing pushback over bill to transform justice system
One thing that both the prosecution and the defence seem to agree on is that the federal government’s push to cut preliminary inquiries in most criminal cases will not solve the long-standing problem of delays in the criminal justice system.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2018-10-01
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Québec dépose une «offre finale et globale» pour les juristes de l’État
23-02-2017
Le gouvernement Couillard compte mettre fin rapidement à la grève des juristes de l’État, qui en est déjà à sa 18e semaine.
Le président du Conseil du trésor, Pierre Moreau, a annoncé jeudi qu’il déposera en soirée une «offre finale et globale».
Le ministre affirme avoir pris cette décision après que le syndicat des juristes, Des avocats et notaires de l’État québécois, eut déposé une proposition qui s’éloignait des offres du gouvernement.
Québec propose aux juristes une rémunération «comparable» à celle des procureurs, selon Pierre Moreau, et un «forum impartial» pour définir leur statut professionnel.
Le négociateur du gouvernement devra lui faire rapport d’ici 24 heures. «Sur la base de ce rapport, je présenterai au gouvernement mes recommandations sur les suites à donner à ce dossier», a dit Pierre Moreau.
Le ministre a refusé de se prononcer sur la possibilité d’imposer une loi spéciale pour régler le conflit. Toutefois, il n’écarte plus cette possibilité.
«Analyse attentive»
Après cette 18e semaine de grève, les juristes ont fait savoir dans un communiqué qu’ils ne feraient aucun commentaire avant d’avoir «pu analyser attentivement» la nouvelle offre.
Les avocats et notaires de l’État québécois (LANEQ) s’indignent cependant que la discussion soit limitée à 24 heures.
«LANEQ qualifie également la sortie publique surprise du ministre Moreau de grave manque de respect pour le processus de négociation et les négociateurs des deux parties», peut-on lire dans le communiqué.
- avec la collaboration de Patrick Bellerose
https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2017/02/23/quebec-depose-une-offre-finale-pour-les-juristes-de-letat
