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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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DANNY CAVANAGH: Once again, we ask: ‘Is the Nova Scotia government above the law?’
22-10-2019
From left, Perry Borden, President of the NSCAA, Shane Russell, vice -president of the crown attorney's association (NSCAA), and Rick Woodburn, a lead negotiator, commiserate before their news conference at Province House on Tuesday. The NSCAA announced that beginning in the morning of October 23rd, it will be withdrawing crown attorney services as a job action to counter the province's passing of Bill 203 that they say guts their existing collective agreement. - Tim Krochak
The Nova Scotia government is attacking its unionized Crown attorneys in the middle of their bargaining.
The Crown attorneys in Nova Scotia have had the right to arbitration since 2000, and they further secured a 30-year extension to that right in June 2016. The right to collective bargaining is a Charter right for workers in Canada, a right that has been upheld in many legal challenges across the country. Eight of our provincial unions are now heading to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court after this same Liberal government brought down its legislative hammer on thousands of our public sector workers with Bill 148.
If we need to live up to the terms of contracts such as the one for the Yarmouth-to-Maine ferry, why does the same not apply to our unions’ rights to collective bargaining? Bill 203 abolishes binding arbitration for Crown attorneys and replaces it with the right to strike limited by essential services provisions.
Premier Stephen McNeil believes the legislation will not hurt his government’s standing with other bargaining units, because “I don’t believe it will,” he says.
We know he and his cabinet want to set a low-wage pattern.
The government offered Crown attorneys a 7.2-per-cent wage increase over four years while the prosecutors would be looking to have an arbitrator hand them as much as 17 per cent. That is essentially an admission by the government that they want to keep wages low.
Bill 203 is squarely aimed at undermining the negotiations of the attorneys now. It is also built to send a message to our 10,000 teachers who are in bargaining, and other unions which, in the next 18 months, will also be heading into negotiations.
Trust is enormous at the bargaining table, and this is not negotiating in good faith. This sends a message that the government is driving people to take strike action as a solution. They know full well that the majority of the attorneys will be declared an essential service, which would render strike action ineffective.
We will stand solidly behind the Crown attorneys in the province and defend unionized workers’ right to collective bargaining.
It’s shameful that the government put forward this bill in the legislature amid contract talks. Let’s have a conversation about the cost of losing in the courts vs. keeping wages low.
This government needs to make better choices. It seems to have no issue when it comes to huge handouts through privatization. If it stopped handing out millions to corporate friends, the cupboard wouldn’t be bare.
No government should be allowed to write a law to break the law.
Danny Cavanagh is president, Nova Scotia Federation of Labour.
