Connexion
Dernières nouvelles
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.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 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.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 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.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 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.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 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.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 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.
[ ...Suite ]Date de parution : 2024-11-12
<-- Retour au nouvelles archivées
Arbitrator awards pay bumps to Manitoba's Crown attorneys after 2 years without contract
04-03-2024
Crown attorneys continue to face heavy workloads, understaffing: MACA president
Crown attorneys in Manitoba have been awarded a new, five-year deal after going to arbitration with the province.
After a hearing earlier last month between the province and the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys (MACA), sole arbitrator William Kaplan outlined the new five-year deal in a Feb. 12 decision, retroactive to 2022, that includes total wage increases of just under 14 per cent.
MACA represents about 250 Crown attorneys that work in Manitoba's justice system. The association has been bargaining with the province for a new collective agreement since their last one expired in March 2022.
Rich Lonstrup, MACA's president, says the efforts to reach a new collective agreement spanned two provincial governments and left its members without one for about two years, but many of the issues its members experience remain unaddressed by the province.
"Crown attorneys face overwhelming caseloads. Some of our regional offices remain woefully understaffed," Lonstrup said in a Monday statement emailed to CBC News.
"Members have made and continue to make great sacrifices to their personal life and mental health."
Manitoba adds 25 Crown attorneys to prosecution service amid workload issues
Manitoba Crown lawyers win pay bumps in arbitration, after tense negotiations with province
The new deal also includes a new maximum step for senior Crowns, which gives them four percent more pay than the previous top level, as well as an additional two per cent long-service award for Crowns with 20 or more years of experience.
All full-time Crown attorneys will also get an $1,800 signing bonus, while part-timers will get $900.
In the arbitration decision, Kaplan says both the province and MACA provided "extensive and detailed" submissions to support their cases.
MACA cited the salaries of other Crown attorneys, workloads, recruitment and retention issues, on top of inflation, arguing they warrant significant wage increases, according to the decision.
Grievance remains outstanding: MACA
While the province acknowledged the work MACA's members contribute to Manitoba's justice system, it did not agree that there are recruitment and retention issues and also deemed many of the association's financial proposals as both "unprecedented and unaffordable," it says.
Justice Minister Matt Wiebe called the new collective agreement "a fair deal that brings Manitoba in line with other provinces," in a Monday statement to CBC News.
Wiebe also blamed the previous Progressive Conservative government for leaving the province's Crown attorneys without a collective agreement, and with a working environment that left them "burnt out with stagnant wages."
But Lonstrup says the grievance that MACA filed against Manitoba — which was filed after members voted to reject the province's final contract offer in April 2023 — remains outstanding.
"We seek to work with the current government to swiftly resolve this unsustainable working environment," he said.
However, Kaplan's arbitration decision says any issues brought up by MACA or the province that were not specifically addressed in the contract award are now dismissed.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-crown-attorneys-new-collective-agreement-1.7133680