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Crown attorneys call on Manitoba government to help address ‘dangerously heavy caseloads’
The Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys (MACA) is calling on the provincial government to help reduce mounting workloads that it says are making it difficult for prosecutors to meet their professional responsibilities. grievance it filed in April 2023. It says the grievance it filed back in April 2023 regarding 'dangerously heavy caseloads' won't be heard by an arbitrator until October 2025.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2025-01-10
Preparing RCMP body-cam evidence for court will be monumental task, prosecutor says
The RCMP is phasing-in the use of body-worn cameras across the country and expects 90 per cent of frontline members to be wearing them within a year. Shara Munn, president of the New Brunswick Crown Prosecutors Association, said while the body-camera evidence will be great to have, it will also mean a huge influx of work for prosecutors.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2025-01-06
N.L. government invests in 18 new Crown attorneys amid severe staffing crunch
Newfoundland and Labrador Justice Minister Bernard Davis announced Wednesday afternoon that the provincial government is investing nearly $24 million to improve the province's justice system.... The investment comes after CBC News reported in numerous stories that Crown attorneys in the province were "suffocating" from overwhelming workloads and a critical staffing shortage.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2024-11-14
Newfoundland to add more Crown prosecutors
Newfoundland and Labrador has agreed to hire more Crown lawyers following cries of a shortage of prosecutors in the province. The “multi-year investment” will include the hiring of 18 new Crown lawyers, according to a news release.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2024-11-13
Critical shortage of Crown attorneys has ‘gone on way too long’ and is hurting public safety
The Canadian Association of Crown Counsel, an umbrella group for thousands of Crown attorneys and government lawyers across the country is calling for a big boost in the number of provincial prosecutors in Newfoundland and Labrador.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2024-11-13
Most criminal cases in Ontario now ending before charges are tested at trial
More than half of the criminal charges laid by police in Ontario never make it to trial, according to data from Statistics Canada. The numbers paint a troubling picture of the province’s justice system. More judges, staff, prosecutors and courtrooms needed, says Crown attorneys’ association.
[ ...More ]Publication date : 2024-11-12
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Another victory for state lawyers in the Court of Appeal
08-04-2021
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.
Les avocats et notaires de l'État québécois (LANEQ) 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.
The president of the Treasury Board at the time, Pierre Moreau, had ended the strike with a special law, which had forced the return to work of state lawyers, under threat of heavy fines. The special law also prohibited them from going on strike for three years. It also provided for a mechanism for the continuation of negotiations and, in the absence of an agreement, working conditions had to be imposed.
LANEQ had challenged the constitutionality of the special law and had won the case before the Superior Court in September 2019.
The judge had determined that the special law constituted a "substantial obstacle to freedom of association" and that its justification had not been demonstrated.
The Court of Appeal has now confirmed this judgment of the Superior Court.
"What the two courts are saying is that our constitutional right, which includes the right to negotiate and to strike, has been violated by the government and that the law in question constitutes an obstacle to our right to negotiate," Mr. Marc Dion, President of LANEQ, summarized in an interview with The Canadian Press, Thursday.
LANEQ, however, had not succeeded in convincing the Superior Court to impose the establishment of a genuine dispute settlement mechanism. The judge felt that it was up to the parties to negotiate this between them.
"There is nevertheless a very strong moral weight of the Court of Appeal," noted Mr. Dion.
“We are satisfied that the Court of Appeal confirmed the decision of' the Superior Court. It's a long journey. It takes a lot of patience; it takes a lot of energy, but lawyers and notaries are determined,” he concluded.
The issues at the time were about pay parity with criminal and penal prosecuting attorneys, as well as a dispute resolution mechanism that would be binding on the parties.
Mr. Dion emphasized that even today, the parties have still not settled the collective agreement for 2015-2020, while it must negotiate that of 2020-2023.
"We are still in discussions, yes still, with the Treasury Board to try to set up, in fact, a new negotiation regime for Les avocats et notaires de l'État québécois, even if the Coalition Avenir Québec had made a commitment on the eve of the election campaign, in 2018, to reform our negotiation process," said Mr. Dion.