Connexion
Dernières nouvelles
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.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 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.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 2018-10-01
National Prosecution Authority (NPA) Hosts International Conference of Prosecutors Focusing on Prosecutorial Independence
More than 400 senior prosecutors, including heads of prosecuting agencies from 83 countries, have descended in Johannesburg to attend the 23rd Annual General Meeting and Conference of the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) at the Sandton Convention Centre (SCC), from 9 – 13 September 2018. The conference, hosted under the leadership of acting National Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr Silas Ramaite SC will be opened with a keynote address by the Minister of Justice & Correctional Services, Michael Masutha on Monday 10 September.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 2018-09-11
South Africa hosts The International Association of Prosecutors’ Conference, 9-14 September 2018
South Africa will from 9 – 14 September 2018 host the annual International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) Conference at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg under the theme: “Prosecutorial Independence – the Cornerstone of Justice to Society”.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 2018-09-10
Crown attorneys want to form a union, but NDP government presents a hurdle
Alberta’s Crown prosecutors want to unionize, but face hurdles to their bid, including the wording of provincial legislation and opposition from the NDP government.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 2018-08-17
Ford opposes handgun ban as he pledges funds to fight gun violence
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he opposes a handgun ban in Toronto because it would penalize legal gun owners, but vowed to help tackle gun violence in the city by pledging $25-million over four years for police and the courts.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 2018-08-09
<-- Retour au nouvelles archivées
B.C. judges should get pay and pension hike: appeal court
31-03-2015
B.C.’s Provincial Court judges have won another round in their salary battle with the province.
In a 2-1 ruling in Provincial Court Judges’ Association of British Columbia v. British Columbia (Attorney General), the B.C. Court of Appeal said Provincial Court judges are entitled to the suggested salary and pension recommendations first made in a 2010 report by the Judges’ Compensation Commission. They were rejected by the B.C. legislature in 2011.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge had directed the government to reconsider the matter, but last year, the legislature rejected the recommendations again.
The judges appealed and the B.C. Court of Appeal said last Friday, they are entitled to the compensation as recommended.
The compensation commission’s 2010 report said judges in the province earned about $231,000 a year. That put them in second place for provincial court judges in Canada after Ontario.
The commission made 15 recommendations to the government regarding provincial court judges’ pay. They included freezing pay in 2011-12 and 2012-13 but increasing 2013-14 salaries by the accumulated increase in the B.C. consumer price index over the preceding three years.
The government rejected six of the 15 recommendations, saying pay would be frozen in 2013-14 as part of attempts to control public spending.
However, the Provincial Court Judges’ Association of B.C. won a judicial review ordering the government to reconsider.
In his decision, Justice Edward Chiasson wrote that the legislature should not have considered financial data from 2013, and should not have given new reasons for its decision denying the increases.
“In my view, the Legislature was neither entitled to reconsider its response to the 2010 JCC report on the basis of 2013 financial data, nor to advance new substantive reasons for rejecting the report. On that basis, I would allow this appeal.”
“I would declare that the PCJs are entitled to the recommendations in the 2010 JCC report,” he concluded.
Dissenting Justice David Harris said the court is intruding on the province’s turf of allocating public funds.
“The second basis for rejecting the salary recommendation was that the actual financial circumstances of the Province had turned out to be worse than they had been forecast to be in 2010,” Harris wrote. “I agree that it was illegitimate to rely on the actual data, rather than the forecast. Nevertheless, it is artificial to read the 2013 response without any regard to the 2011 response. Part of the rationale for the 2011 response was that it was unfair and unreasonable to award judges’ salary increases out of the public purse when others paid from it were shouldering the burden of hard times. In my view, that rationale continues to inform the 2013 response. On a fair reading, it is the foundation or the underlying premise of the rejection of the recommendations.”
Chaisson agreed that a court “must be very reluctant to instruct a Legislature how to proceed . . . but in the context of establishing judges’ compensation there is precedent for doing so.”
“Continuation of uncertainty is not in the best interest of either party and is not consistent with the scheme of the process mandated by the Judicial Compensation Act. PCJs still do not know what remuneration they are to receive for the period 2011 – 2014,” he added.
The commission in 2010 also recommended pension-accrual rates of 3.5 per cent for judges starting April 1, 2013, and that the government change the law so judges who work past the age of 70 can make pension contributions.
