BC’s premier orders review into backlog in court system

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Premier Christy Clark has ordered a massive review of BC’s justice system to try to clear out backlogs and avoid cases being thrown out. But she’s not backing down on her wish to have the court cases of suspected Stanley Cup rioters televised.

The review will look at government, the courts, lawyers, police, and everyone else involved. Clark says there’s something wrong with the system.

“You would think that if the crime rate was falling and the number of cases going to court was falling, you would also think that the amount of money required would be falling. But instead, the amount of money that we’ve been putting into the system — including the appointment of nine judges yesterday — is growing,” she explains.

The amount of money Clark is talking about adds up to over $1 billion every year.

Senior lawyer Geoffrey Cowper will lead the review and report back by July. Clark has asked the Trial Lawyers Association (TLA) to get involved — even though some are not doing duty counsel because of what they call a shortage of resources — as well as the Legal Services Society, which handles legal aid and has endured numerous cuts.

“We say that the backlog of matters in our justice system requires immediate intervention,” says Marc Kazimirski with the TLA. “There has to be increased funding, it has to occur now. That is thoroughly canvassed in the Doust Report that was commissioned by the Canadian Bar Association of British Columbia.”

Richard Fowler with Trial Lawyers says more people are self-represented in court now than were a few years ago. The budget for Legal Aid was cut in 2009 and the provincial government changed the rules, reducing the number of people who qualify for help.

“That causes problems for the Crown. So you have an underfunded Crown with a self-represented accused,” says Fowler. “It causes problems for the court. The court now has the dual role of adjudicating and also the responsibility to give advice, or guidance, to the self-represented accused, which dramatically lengthens the proceedings.”

But Kazimirski says the solution is not as simple as throwing money at the problem.

“We have unique issues in British Columbia in terms of poverty, social issues that suggest that the national average doesn’t apply. We need increased funding, not just what’s spent in other provinces.”

He says once the system has adequate funding, it will begin to run more efficiently. It’s a theory that seems to be echoed by Crown Counsel Association of BC.

“One reality is we can’t have justice done without people,” says CCA President Samiran Lakshman. “And we still have massive cuts that are in place to our branch, to the prosecutor’s office, that are just not going to allow for justice to be done.”

Like Legal Aid, the Crown also saw budget cuts in 2009.

“We have over 2,500 cases that are over 18 months old,” says Lakshman, “which is sort of a red-zone for cases in danger of being thrown out because of unreasonable delay. There are another 5,000 cases behind those [that are] between 12 months and 18 months [old].”

He says Crown lawyers are “hamstrung” as they try to work there way through the backlog, because there just aren’t enough people on the job.

“We had nine new judges appointed yesterday but not any more money to put prosecutors in front of those judges,” he says. “I’m not sure how we’re going to open more courtrooms.”

“The equation is pretty simple. We need to restore the funding that has been cut, and has been consistently cut, since 2009 when they administered our budget with a model of attrition, not replacing those who are leaving.”

NDP Attorney General Critic Leonard Krog argues this problem should have been addressed long ago.

“They’ve been government for 11 years,” he says. “The premier’s been in office for nearly a year and she’s suddenly discovered we have a crisis in the justice system and we’re going to study it now and then make recommendations.

“The reality is this smells like a political fix to deal with a significant and very genuine problem in our legal system.”

There’s also a shakeup in law and order ministries in BC. Attorney General and Solicitor General Shirley Bond will be BC’s Justice Minister and Attorney General.

Is Clark’s request for cameras in courts for riot cases a cause for the backlog?

There has been a complaint of the issue of cameras in courts for Stanley Cup Rioters causing delays in the court system. For example, Ryan Dickinson, the only person to plead guilty so far, is still waiting to be sentenced.

The Crown has been ordered by the province to ask judges to let cameras into courts for suspected rioters’ cases, and that means more applications. Premier Clark says she won’t back down on broadcasting the cases.

“I think we all benefit from more transparency in the justice system. Would that speed it up? Well, you know what? I think there are a lot bigger issues that we need to focus on,” says Clark.

“You see the slowing-down in cases and the number of delays and stays we see… that’s not because of the Stanley Cup [Riot] and it’s not because of cameras in the court room,” she argues.

Dickinson is back in court on Valentine’s Day.