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
Nova Scotia to eliminate right to arbitration for Crown attorneys
16-10-2019
Nova Scotia Finance Minister Karen Casey briefs reporters before she tables the budget at the legislature in Halifax on Tuesday, March 20, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan)
HALIFAX -- 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.
The changes to the Crown Attorneys' Labour Relations Act overrides the current framework agreement and gives the prosecutors the right to strike while requiring that they provide essential services.
Perry Borden, president of the Nova Scotia Crown Attorney's Association, said his 100 members were unaware of the government's plan, only finding out the legislation was coming as it was tabled in the legislature.
"We feel like that we were blindsided," said Borden. "We would submit that they have negotiated in bad faith. It's the same government that signed this (current) agreement, and they are not sticking to the terms that they signed on for."
He said the legislation would "fracture" his membership's relationship with the government.
Finance Minister Karen Casey said the move was necessary because the government simply can't afford what's being asked for.
The Crown attorneys are seeking a 17 per cent salary increase over four years, which Casey said is far beyond an established wage pattern set for the public sector and the seven per cent over four years offered by the government during negotiations.
Casey said the increase would have cost the government an additional $2.6 million annually.
"To look at 17 per cent for one small sector, or even a large sector, is something this province cannot afford and it doesn't keep us within our objectives to be fair and consistent," Casey said.
The collective agreement expired March 31, and both sides met twice for negotiations in June before two conciliation meetings were held this month.
Rick Woodburn, a member of the attorneys' bargaining committee, said the wage increase sought is in line with counterparts across Canada.
He said Nova Scotia Crown attorneys are currently the highest paid in Atlantic Canada but the increase would only rank them in the middle nationally. According to figures released by the province, they currently earn up to $149,000 annually, a figure that would increase to about $160,000 under the government's offer.
"This government gave us binding arbitration so we wouldn't go on strike," Woodburn said. "Now this same government, when we exercised our right to binding arbitration is taking it away -- in our view that's unconstitutional and it's unfair."
However, Woodburn couldn't say whether the changes would lead to a court challenge, saying the association would need time to review them in depth.
As for the essential services provision, Woodburn said most of the duties carried out by prosecutors would be considered essential, especially in light of the Supreme Court of Canada's Jordan decision in 2016, which set time limits for concluding criminal cases.
"We are brushing up against those timelines as we speak," Woodburn said. "It's exactly why we want binding arbitration. We want to make sure that the courts move forward in a smooth fashion."
Claudia Chender, the NDP's house leader, said offering the right to strike is little consolation in light of what's being taken away. "This is classic doublespeak from a government that doesn't care about collective bargaining," she said.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston also panned the legislation, questioning the government's priorities.
"On the one hand, you have a government that spends $20 million on a ferry that doesn't leave the wharf, and on the other hand, they are willing to go to war with Crown attorneys on $2 million a year," Houston said.
The province said Crown attorneys in Quebec and New Brunswick are also covered by right-to-strike legislation. Quebec attorneys reached an agreement with that province's essential services council to staff specific cases during a strike in 2011.
Considering the time needed to adopt the legislation, it is not expected the province's Crown attorneys could strike before mid-November, at the earliest.
