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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 requires lawyers to return to work Wednesday morning
28-02-2017
PHOTO SIMON CLARK
BILLS ON THE ICE
The absence of lawyers has slowed the work of the state, as well as the government. The lawyers' union, Lawyers and Notaries of the State of Quebec (LANEQ), estimates that it has blocked the drafting of 20 bills, including that on dangerous dogs, and some 220 draft regulations.
In addition, 1,500 criminal cases of income, involving fines of $ 34 million, would have fallen behind and could now fall because of the Jordan judgment, according to LANEQ. Contracts worth more than $ 800 million have also been awarded without legal advice.
Finance Minister Carlos Leitao also acknowledged that the continuation of the strike would have complicated the implementation of the provincial budget planned for the end of March.
A DRY UNION
LANEQ quickly exhausted its $ 4 million strike fund. The lawyers then had to borrow an additional $ 8 million to continue their pressure tactics.
Since January 27, the union's finances are dry and its 1100 members lose $ 1 million a week.
According to LANEQ's estimate, Quebec has saved some $ 34 million in wages since the beginning of the conflict.
DID QUEBEC FORGET THE REVENUE AGENCY?
Deprived of its lawyers, has the Couillard government forgotten to include the lawyers of the Revenue Agency by drafting the special law? Indeed, these are not covered by the law.
The LANEQ president believes he knows where the error occurred. "Articles 1 to 20 is a copy-paste of what was done in 2011," says Jean Denis. Once a department, Revenu Québec has since become an Agency and its employees have changed status.
The President of the Conseil du trésor, Pierre Moreau, says rather that they are not covered precisely because of the special status of the Revenue Agency. "And the status of their negotiations is not the same as that of the state's lawyers who are covered by 127," he says.
NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE
Despite the return to work, the negotiations between the government and LANEQ will continue for a period of 105 days, according to the bill. If the lawyers and Quebec do not agree, the government will impose a renewal of the collective agreement expired in 2015, with a wage increase of 6.75%.
This would be the least generous wage increase offered by the Couillard government to public service employees. In 2015, the Common Front of the Civil Service earned 9.15%.
Pierre Moreau argues that the special law "was not our first choice". "And that's why, beyond going back to work, the bill, rather than directly fixing working conditions, leaves room for negotiated agreement," he says.
TENSE RELATIONSHIPS FOR RETURN TO WORK
Government lawyers were scalded by these four months of strike and special law. "Do you think they'll be happy? Absolutely not! ", Launched the president of LANEQ, Jean Denis, in anticipation of their return to work Wednesday.
Despite the growls, Pierre Moreau expects a return without a hitch. "The people targeted by the law are lawyers who are respectful of their ethical obligations," said the minister, while acknowledging that it will not be "gleefully".
http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/02/28/greve-des-juristes--la-loi-speciale-est-adoptee
