Shortage of prosecutors: towards abandoning prosecutions

Crown prosecutors fear the worst in the face of the crisis which is slowing down the functioning of the criminal justice system in New Brunswick. Calls for help have been made for two weeks.  Me Yves Duguay, Vice-President of the New Brunswick Association of Crown Prosecutors and prosecutor in Bathurst, admits that the situation has been worrying for a while.

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Publication date : 2024-03-27

B.C. prosecutors’ association raises security concerns about Vancouver courthouse following assault

The association that represents B.C.’s roughly 450 Crown prosecutors is raising safety concerns around an East Vancouver courthouse after a member was allegedly assaulted outside last week. "We’re reeling, this has really shaken us to the core to have one of our own attacked right here,” said BCCCA president Adam Dalrymple.

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Publication date : 2024-02-05

Increased number of homicides doesn’t bode well for overworked N.L. prosecutors, association says

There are 17 homicide cases before the courts in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the head of the association that represents local prosecutors says the higher-than-normal caseload will be difficult to handle.

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Publication date : 2023-09-07

Manitoba adds 25 Crown attorneys to prosecution service amid workload issues

The Manitoba government hopes to add about two dozen more prosecutors and assistants to the prosecution service, which attorneys say has been struggling to keep up amid workload and workforce issues. Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys says province left group out of discussions.

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Publication date : 2023-06-26

Les Leyne: Premier David Eby takes on lawyers — again

The B.C. NDP government has introduced a one-page bill that bestows the right to join a union on the 350 lawyers who work for government. There’s a catch. It herds them into a union the government prefers, the Professional Employees Association, rather than allowing them to form their own.

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Publication date : 2023-05-06

‘Unfair labour practice’: B.C. government accused of blocking union bid by its own lawyers

Lawyers for the B.C. government say the province has ended negotiations with them ahead of legislation they claim aims to block their right to form their own union.

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Publication date : 2023-05-04

N.B. prosecutors say recent sexual assault stay is evidence of resource shortage

New Brunswick’s justice system is reaching a crisis point. Urgent calls have been made to address the provincial criminal justice system after a decision was made to stay a sexual assault case due to the lack of prosecutors. According to the New Brunswick Crown Prosecutors Association, the judge’s decision, made in Moncton last Friday, is directly linked to the shortage of resources.

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Publication date : 2023-03-01

Delays prompt judge to stay charges against man accused of sexual assault

Charges were stayed in Moncton provincial court Friday against a man accused of sexual assault, with the judge agreeing with the defence that the accused had waited too long to be tried. Meanwhile, New Brunswick Crown Prosecutors Association, representing Crown attorneys, saying staffing shortages in their ranks are at crisis levels.

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Publication date : 2023-02-24

Government lawyers in B.C. fight for right to form their own union following newly tabled bill

The B.C. Government Lawyers Association (BCGLA) is speaking out against the newly tabled Bill 5, which will allow government lawyers interested in unionizing to join the Professional Employees Association (PEA) for government-licensed professionals, but does not allow them to form their own union.

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Publication date : 2023-02-11

B.C. government lawyers fight for right to unionize on their own terms

Lawyers who work for the B.C. government writing legislation, providing legal advice and representing government in civil litigation want the right to join a union of their choice. The B.C. Government Lawyers Association said that 75 per cent of the government’s 350 lawyers had signed cards asking that the association be allowed to represent them as its proposed new union.

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Publication date : 2022-11-21

B.C. government lawyers fight for right to unionize on their own terms

Lawyers who work for the B.C. government writing legislation, providing legal advice and representing government in civil litigation want the right to join a union of their choice. The B.C. Government Lawyers Association said that 75 per cent of the government’s 350 lawyers had signed cards asking that the association be allowed to represent them as its proposed new union.

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Publication date : 2022-11-21

Labour officials, N.S. government to meet to discuss Bill 148

Representatives with organized labour and the Nova Scotia government will meet to discuss how to address outstanding issues with a contentious piece of legislation used to impose wage restraint. Bill 148, passed by the former Liberal government to impose wage patterns and remove a lump-sum retirement benefit known as the long-service award, continues to be tied up in court. 

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Publication date : 2022-06-17

Alberta: Prioritizing high-quality prosecution services

Alberta’s government has approved market adjustments for Alberta’s Crown prosecutors as part of prioritizing high-quality prosecutions. Alberta’s Crown prosecutors will receive market adjustments to make their pay competitive with other provinces and the federal prosecution service. Now, Alberta will be able to attract new prosecutors and keep experienced prosecutors, which is critical to an effective criminal justice system.

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Publication date : 2022-05-02

Alberta Crown prosecutors meet to consider strike

The Alberta Crown Attorneys' Association (ACAA) met Wednesday evening to consider taking job action.  The group, representing 380 Crown prosecutors across the province, sent a letter to Premier Jason Kenney to address what it called "the crisis in the justice system" and the possibility of taking "drastic steps." The association alleges that "chronic underfunding" of Alberta's prosecution service is coming to a head and that all attempts to meet with the current and former justice ministers had been rejected. 

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Publication date : 2022-04-06

Statement by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association on the attack on Ukraine

The CLA condemns the brutal, unjustified and unlawful invasion of Ukraine by the Russian State. International Law is clear. The brutal and unprovoked attack on the Ukraine breaches fundamental principles of international law. The loss of life and damage to property and infrastructure are appalling and a humanitarian outrage. 

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Publication date : 2022-03-03

IAP Statement Regarding the Events in Ukraine and the Russian Federation

The International Association of Prosecutors joins the international community in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ordered by the President of the Russian Federation. This act violates both Ukraine’s sovereignty and international law. A state is prohibited from the use or threat of force against another state unless acting in self-defence or acting pursuant to a United Nations Security Council resolution. Neither of these two exceptions is applicable to Russia’s actions against Ukraine.

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Publication date : 2022-03-01

B.C. risks losing top Crown prosecutors if it scraps existing salary structure, association warns

The association representing Crown lawyers in B.C. says the province will be at risk of losing its most experienced prosecutors if it doesn't agree to keep their old salary structure intact. The warning from the B.C. Crown Counsel Association comes after a contract dispute between the lawyers and the province hit the two-year mark without a solution.

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Publication date : 2022-02-10

N.S. court backlog worsening due to COVID and the ‘Jordan ticker’

Every day, Crown attorneys in Nova Scotia walk into work with the "Jordan ticker" on their mind, as they sift through cases — from homicide to sexual assault — and try to determine which are at risk of being dropped. The number is alarmingly high, with 1,046 pending cases currently over the so-called Jordan threshold in provincial court — a 187 per cent increase from 364 cases in 2020.

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Publication date : 2021-10-28

Another victory for state lawyers in the Court of Appeal

The union of lawyers and notaries of the State has just won another victory, while the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the Superior Court which had invalidated the special law forcing their return to work, at the end of a long strike in 2017. Les avocats et notaires de l'État québécois (LANEQ) had walked out for four months, in 2016 and 2017, as part of a difficult negotiation to renew their collective agreement with the Quebec government.

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Publication date : 2021-04-08

COVID-compliant courts aim to clear backlog of jury trials

Canada’s wheels of justice have slowed down during the pandemic, as court cases and the legal system reckon with COVID-19 concerns. As Ross Lord reports, jury trials are trying to stage a comeback while adjusting to a new reality.

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Publication date : 2021-04-04

Crown attorneys to challenge letters of reprimand over October walkout

Sixty-one Nova Scotia Crown attorneys who walked off the job in October to protest legislation revoking their right to binding arbitration are challenging the discipline against them. Each Crown received a letter in April from Laura Lee Langley, Nova Scotia's public service commissioner, that will go into each of their personnel folders. The Crowns are seeking a judicial review of the discipline.

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Publication date : 2020-07-09

Ottawa to allow federal bureaucrats to work from home if possible to prevent coronavirus spread

The roughly 300,000 federal employees will be told to stay away from their offices throughout the country as long as their job allows it.

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Publication date : 2020-03-13

Prosecutors Insulted by Government Salary Offer

Quebec crown prosecutors find the rejection of an independent report on their remuneration incomprehensible…

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Publication date : 2020-02-20

Supreme Court decision could help former N.S. Crown lawyer sue Premier, ex-justice minister for libe

A Supreme Court of Canada decision could affect whether government lawyers can use confidential documents to defend their reputations if political bosses “throw them under the bus,” a law professor says.

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Publication date : 2020-02-19

Alberta justice minister denies courtroom cuts; sources maintain tissues, water removed

Alberta Justice denies it ever gave a directive to remove tissues or water from courtrooms earlier this week but sources confirmed to Global News on Tuesday that these items would no longer be supplied.

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Publication date : 2020-01-22

‘State of continual crisis’: Alberta Crown prosecutors overworked, understaffed

There’s 'a revolving door' of people leaving, says the association president

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Publication date : 2019-12-12

Canada compensating former employees for damages caused by Phoenix pay system

The Government remains determined to address the impacts that the implementation of the Phoenix pay system has had on public servants. 

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Publication date : 2019-11-30

Prosecutors question impact of UCP plan to double articling program

A day after the province announced the doubling of its articling program for Crown prosecutors, the association overseeing them questioned the value of the plan.

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Publication date : 2019-11-26

Crown attorneys association urges province to address staffing shortage in northern courts

Manitoba prosecutors are calling on the provincial government to do something about a "crushing workload" in northern courts, which they say is putting a strain on the province's entire criminal justice system.

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Publication date : 2019-11-26

‘Something has to give’: Alberta justice system braces for budget cuts

Crown attorneys, clerks and others in the Alberta justice system are warning provincial budget cuts risk adding more backlogs to an already strained system.

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Publication date : 2019-11-21

Undervalued and stressed: Morale low in Manitoba’s justice department, staff survey says

'They don't feel that they're being valued at work,' MGEU president says following staff engagement survey

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Publication date : 2019-11-21

LARRY HAIVEN: Government’s offer to prosecutors amounts to wage cut

The recent Crown attorneys dispute is a conflict on several fronts. The battlefield is public opinion. It’s a war of words. 

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Publication date : 2019-11-02

Wins and losses for justice system in UCP budget

Rural crime strategy fuels funding injections for Alberta Justice in new budget

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Publication date : 2019-10-25

N.S. government to return to talks with Crowns, as controversial law paused

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia's Liberal government today held off on enacting legislation that would have forced striking Crowns back to work, promising to return to the negotiating table next week.

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Publication date : 2019-10-25

Province withdraws request for emergency order to end N.S. Crown attorneys’ strike

The province passed a law Friday to declare the prosecutors an essential service, but it was not proclaimed.

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Publication date : 2019-10-25

Judge to hear application to end Crown prosecutors strike on Friday

Crowns walked off the job Wednesday in protest of Bill 203.

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Publication date : 2019-10-24

N.S. government files for injunction to try to end Crown attorneys’ strike

Government sprang Bill 203 on prosecutors last week after two sides failed to reach agreement.

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Publication date : 2019-10-23

Crown attorneys walk off the job in Nova Scotia over loss of arbitration

HALIFAX -- Most of Nova Scotia's Crown attorneys are going on strike today, with a negotiator for the prosecutors' union predicting "chaos" in courtrooms across the province.

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Publication date : 2019-10-23

Crown attorneys to strike Wednesday

The Nova Scotia Crown Attorneys’ Association announced Tuesday afternoon that they are withdrawing their services in response to the province's sudden announcement last week that it is introducing legislation that "guts" the existing collective agreement between the two sides.

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Publication date : 2019-10-22

DANNY CAVANAGH: Once again, we ask: ‘Is the Nova Scotia government above the law?’

The Nova Scotia government is attacking its unionized Crown attorneys in the middle of their bargaining.

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Publication date : 2019-10-22

JIM VIBERT: Nova Scotia’s sneak attack on Crown attorneys

Nova Scotia’s 100 Crown attorneys – a.k.a. Crown prosecutors – had been negotiating a new collective agreement with the province since April. The parties had been to conciliation, but agreement was elusive. The next step, entrenched in the Crowns’ agreement with the province, is arbitration.

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Publication date : 2019-10-21

Legal experts lambaste province for ‘arbitrary ’ Crown attorneys bill

Legislation that revokes right to arbitration is not constitutional, legal experts say.

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Publication date : 2019-10-18

N.S. premier defends bill withdrawing Crown prosecutors’ arbitration rights

 A lead negotiator for the Nova Scotia's Crown prosecutors' union says if his members are forced to go on strike it could mean criminal cases ranging from murder to sexual assault will be dropped.

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Publication date : 2019-10-18

Nova Scotia denies Crown attorneys arbitration as contract talks turn ugly

The Nova Scotia Crown Attorneys' Association is accusing the province of bad faith bargaining for taking away its right to arbitration a day after the group rejected the government’s final contract offer.

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Publication date : 2019-10-17

N.S. Crown attorneys ‘blindsided’ by legislation introduced by province

Province tables bill that would make Crown prosecutors an essential service, remove right to arbitration.

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Publication date : 2019-10-16

Nova Scotia to eliminate right to arbitration for Crown attorneys

Angry Crown attorneys descended on the Nova Scotia legislature Wednesday after learning the Liberal government had introduced essential services legislation that would take away their right to arbitration in the midst of ongoing contract talks.

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Publication date : 2019-10-16

Court rules Quebec’s back-to-work legislation unconstitutional

A Quebec court ruling that declared unconstitutional a special law that forced provincial government lawyers and notaries to put a halt to the longest Canadian strike by public civil servants may give them much needed ammunition to persuade the government to introduce binding arbitration, according to legal experts.

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Publication date : 2019-10-02

Global News Investigates: Almost half of Edmonton criminal cases ultimately withdrawn

Nearly 50 per cent of cases where Edmonton police lay charges are ultimately withdrawn by Crown prosecutors.

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Publication date : 2019-09-30

Preliminary hearings dropped in effort to speed up courts; lawyers say it will have opposite effect

As of Thursday, only those facing a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison or longer will be eligible for a preliminary inquiry, a legal proceeding in which a judge determines whether there is enough evidence to send a case to trial. Under the new federal legislation, preliminary hearings will not be held for many serious charges, such as sexual assault, assault with a weapon, major theft and most firearms offences.

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Publication date : 2019-09-19

Alberta courts face uncertainty as justice bill scales back preliminary inquiries

Fewer people facing criminal charges will be eligible for preliminary inquiries prior to trial when a controversial portion of the Liberal justice bill goes into effect this month.

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Publication date : 2019-09-16

Red Deer’s court system under stress from many sides

Shortage of Crown prosecutors not only challenge in courts, says former prosecutor.

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Publication date : 2019-07-26

Hundreds of Calgarians charged with crimes walk free due to lack of prosecutors

Average of 5-15 low complexity trials dumped every week

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Publication date : 2019-07-22

Shoplifting and other petty-crime cases are being dropped by courts

Across Canada, people accused of petty crimes like shoplifting, minor assault and fraud are walking free — because the justice system doesn't have time to deal with their cases, as it struggles to move more serious crimes through the courts.

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Publication date : 2019-05-30

Labour union blasts CAQ government during Bill 21 hearings

The CSN, which represents 300,000 workers, backtracked on its traditional position in favour of a ban on symbols for persons in authority.

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Publication date : 2019-05-15

Federal unions approve agreement on Phoenix damages

Late last week, a subcommittee of federal public service unions and employer representatives reached a tentative agreement to provide damages to public service workers in light of the ongoing Phoenix payroll debacle. This tentative agreement was two years in the making. Today, the undersigned unions are pleased to announce they have signed on to this deal.

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Publication date : 2019-05-08

Government of Canada and public service unions announce compensation for federal employees impacted

Canada's public servants deserve to be paid properly for their important work and the Government of Canada continues to take action on all fronts to resolve Phoenix pay issues.

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Publication date : 2019-05-03

PSAC rejects compensation offer for Phoenix pay fiasco, other groups accept

The federal government says it has reached a tentative deal with some groups on compensation for workers affected by problems with the Phoenix pay system. But the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents the majority of federal employees, has rejected the offer.

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Publication date : 2019-05-03

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?

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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.

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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.

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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.  

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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.

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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.

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Publication date : 2018-10-01

National Prosecution Authority (NPA) Hosts International Conference of Prosecutors Focusing on Prose

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.

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Publication date : 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”.

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Publication date : 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.

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Publication date : 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.

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Publication date : 2018-08-09

‘Pressure points’: Five new provincial court judges hired to help ease backlogs

The province named five judges in northern and central Alberta Tuesday in a move aimed at helping to relieve strain on the court system, says Alberta’s justice minister.

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Publication date : 2018-07-31

Long waits for RCMP firearms forensics putting prosecutions at risk

Staffing shortages saw routine firearms analysis requests take an average of 238 days in 2017-18.

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Publication date : 2018-07-26

Federal lawyers’ union says low pay contributing to ‘crisis’ in hiring, retention, court delays

The union leader representing 2,600 federal government lawyers says Ottawa’s persistent failure to pay competitive compensation is contributing to lacklustre lawyer recruitment, and severe staff shortages in major cities across the country — as well as to court delays and criminal charges being stayed for violating the Supreme Court’s speedy trial deadlines.

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Publication date : 2018-04-26

NDP’s rural crime fighting plan gets mixed reviews

The NDP’s $10-million plan to combat rural crime with new RCMP officers, more Crown prosecutors and improved intelligence gathering is getting mixed reviews from a rural county reeve, a lawyers’ group and an opposition politician. 

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Publication date : 2018-03-12

Why hiring more judges won’t necessarily speed up the justice system

The under-resourcing of the backlogged criminal justice system has become a courtroom battle cry in Ontario, with some judges routinely calling on the government to loosen the purse strings so more of them can be hired.

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Publication date : 2018-03-09

More than 1,000 Ottawa criminal cases ‘at-risk’ of breaching delay limit

More than 20 per cent of the criminal cases at the Ottawa courthouse have been in the judicial system for 15 months or more, which puts them at risk of breaching the Supreme Court’s new limits on “unreasonable delay.”

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Publication date : 2018-03-08

Bitter anniversary for Quebec government lawyers

It was one year ago today that the Quebec government passed a law that forced the province’s 1,100 civil lawyers and notaries back to work after a four-month general strike, the longest in Canadian public service history. But the head of the lawyers’ union says time hasn’t taken the sting out of the collective slap his members received when the law was passed following a marathon 24-hour debate in the National Assembly on Feb. 28, 2017.

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Publication date : 2018-02-28

‘Bully’ bosses issue ‘swept under the carpet’ until junior government lawyer sent email

A junior lawyer’s decision to speak out — with an email copied to dozens of government lawyers — about an allegedly “abusive” boss at Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General caused Queen’s Park to finally take notice of historic problems that were later called a “festering” sore in a government report.

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Publication date : 2018-02-22

Ontario government lawyers being terrorized by ‘bully’ bosses, secret report reveals

Ontario’s Liberal government has kept secret an explosive report that paints some of its most senior bureaucrats — male and female — as bullies who have harassed and discriminated against hundreds of provincial lawyers and administrative assistants for years.  The workplace for 600 government lawyers and several hundred administrative staff at the Ministry of the Attorney General is described as a “toxic” cesspool where fear and retribution rule the day...

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Publication date : 2018-02-21

SCC paves way for ‘standby’ pay for federal Crowns

The union for 2,600 federal lawyers now awaiting the results of their “binding conciliation” with Treasury Board has had a big boost from the Supreme Court for the union’s ongoing fight against Crowns being required to “stand by” for free to do emergency legal work.

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Publication date : 2017-11-03

Courts still bogged down with delays, despite promises by government to fix the system

Prosecutors say lengthy delays remain a major problem within Alberta courts despite the promise of action by two levels of government.

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Publication date : 2017-09-29

It’s taking the RCMP longer than anticipated to digitize Canada’s national database of criminal reco

The RCMP says it'll need until 2020 to finish the nearly 500,000 files left to be uploaded. It previously said it would be done by 2018

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Publication date : 2017-09-07

Lawyers promise to drag Couillard and Moreau to court

Despite their four-month strike in the middle of the winter, lawyers and public notaries (LANEQ) will have to settle for the lowest wage increase in the entire public service. Unable to agree with Quebec, they promise to drag Philippe Couillard and Pierre Moreau before the courts.

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Publication date : 2017-07-13

Lawyers and Notaries of the Québec State: Predictable Failure of Mandatory Mediation

Quebec lawyers and notaries (LANEQ) react to the disclosure of the report resulting from mandatory mediation with the government under the law. The report concludes that mediation has failed. According to LANEQ, this desolate result was predictable, since the law passed by the government to force the return to work of its members did not allow a real negotiation.

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Publication date : 2017-07-13

Contract talks with federal lawyers deadlocked, headed to conciliation

The Liberal government and the union representing federal lawyers are heading to conciliation after the failure of a final bid to break a longstanding deadlock over pay and workload.

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Publication date : 2017-07-12

A case of no respect?

Striking government lawyers in Quebec were forced back to work. Where does that leave them now? ....LANEQ is still hoping for positive outcomes to a legal challenge it launched against the government’s back-to-work law, as well as an action filed with Quebec’s labour relations board, accusing the government of bargaining in bad faith. One positive thing to come out of the strike, says Desroches-Lapointe, is the strong sense of solidarity that was forged among lawyers. 

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Publication date : 2017-07-10

‘It lit a fire under me,’ federal justice minister says of ruling on delays

The Supreme Court of Canada released its groundbreaking ruling, R v. Jordan, that urged everyone to get serious about reform.

"It lit a fire under me," Wilson-Raybould said in an interview.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives someone charged with an offence the right to have their case tried within a reasonable amount of time and in the drug-related case of Barrett Jordan of Surrey, B.C., it had taken more than four years.

"A culture of complacency towards delay has emerged in the criminal justice system," the high court wrote in a 5-4 ruling that sent a strong message that enough was enough.

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Publication date : 2017-07-06

‘Incredibly damning allegation’: Cardinal case ignites feud between prosecutors, justice minister

Alberta's justice minister has been accused of making an "incredibly damning allegation" about discrimination in the Angela Cardinal court case and now finds herself in a pitched battle with the province's Crown prosecutors. In a blistering four-page letter to Kathleen Ganley dated June 6, the president of the Alberta Crown Attorneys' Association defended the actions of the prosecutor who handled the case.

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Publication date : 2017-06-21

Supreme Court stands by controversial ruling requiring trials take place within a reasonable time

In a unanimous decision Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada stuck to its guns on a controversial ruling it issued last year that set strict timelines for criminal trials.

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Publication date : 2017-06-16

Senate committee outlines plan to fight court delays

People accused of serious crimes, including murder, should no longer be set free automatically when a judge finds their right to a timely trial has been violated, a Senate committee has recommended in a wide-ranging plan to fight delay in the criminal-justice system.... Rick Woodburn, president of the Canadian Association of Crown Counsel, said he liked the comprehensiveness and the recommendation to seek alternatives to stays. But he expressed concern that people might be allowed to violate their bail conditions without serious consequences.

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Publication date : 2017-06-14

Supreme Court ruling on trial delays ‘out of step with reality,’ senators say

The Senate committee on legal and constitutional affairs released a report Wednesday that makes 50 recommendations to speed up criminal trials, saying what’s needed is a complete rethink of the Canadian criminal justice system, not drop-dead timelines. Rick Woodburn, president of the Canadian Association of Crown Counsel, said the report isn’t “alarmist” but “realist.”

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Publication date : 2017-06-14

Canadian justice ministers plan emergency meeting as court delays threaten thousands of cases

The federal Liberals came to power promising sweeping reforms to the criminal justice system, but now the provinces are championing some ideas of their own as they focus on cutting backlogs in the courts.

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Publication date : 2017-04-27

Crown prosecutors sign new contract with N.B. government

New Brunswick Crown prosecutors have a new five-and-a-half-year contract that offers general economic increases of 4.8 per cent. There is also an "adjustment" tied to the discontinuance of the retirement allowance benefit, according to the provincial government.

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Publication date : 2017-04-13

Crown prosecutors need more training in sexual assault law, MPs hear

'I didn't get training until I was at least 5 years in and by then it was a little late,' lawyer tells MPs.

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Publication date : 2017-04-11

Saskatoon police want public ‘to be aware but not afraid’ after courthouse bombing

The Saskatoon Police Service is cautioning the public to not panic after an improvised explosive device was set off at the city's provincial courthouse Wednesday night. There were no injuries, but the exterior of the building was damaged.

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Publication date : 2017-03-30

Alberta government pledges to hire more Crown prosecutors

The Alberta government has promised to hire 35 more crown prosecutors, after complaints by the provincial crown attorney’s association that the province’s justice system was in crisis.

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Publication date : 2017-03-13

Dozens of ‘significant’ criminal charges stayed due to lack of resources: Alberta Crown Attorneys’

Forty-four criminal cases have been stayed in Calgary over the past four months and about 60 in Edmonton since last December because of a lack of resources in the provincial prosecution service, according to the Alberta Crown Attorneys' Association.

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Publication date : 2017-03-09

Alberta to invest $14.5-million to ease court delays

After prosecutors revealed they had to drop 200 cases due to a lack of resources, the Alberta government says it will invest $14.5-million in the criminal-justice system to hire more Crown prosecutors and support staff.

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Publication date : 2017-03-09

New protocol encourages Alberta prosecutors to take plea bargains for serious crimes

The Alberta government's new "triage" protocol for cases in the strained justice system instructs the prosecution service to seek lesser convictions for serious charges in an effort to alleviate some of the pressure.

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Publication date : 2017-03-08

Alberta tells prosecutors: Don’t waste time on cases with ‘slim chance’ of conviction

The Alberta government is instructing prosecutors not to waste time and money on serious and violent cases – including first-degree murder – when they have only a "slim chance" of a conviction. Instead, they are being told to accept plea bargains to lesser offences. In minor cases, a police arrest with no prosecution at all "may be enough of a deterrent." And they need not prosecute complex, time-consuming fraud cases if an offender has already faced sanctions from a regulatory body.

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Publication date : 2017-03-08

Shortage of Crowns causes crisis in Alberta

The Alberta Crown Attorneys’ Association is saying the province’s justice system is in crisis, as it calls on the government to fund 50 more prosecutors in the province and for 35 trial prosecutors to be hired to fill vacant spots.

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Publication date : 2017-03-07

Ontario judges stayed 46 cases due to court delays in 2016

Courthouses in Toronto, Ottawa recorded most stayed cases after Supreme Court ruling.

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Publication date : 2017-03-06

Justice denied: More money the best fix for court delays, say Crown lawyers

“There just hasn’t been the increase (in funding) along with the more serious crimes that are more prolific now than they used to be,” Woodburn said.

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Publication date : 2017-03-05