Top judges say trial delays unacceptable

Alberta’s chief judges decried growing trial delays Wednesday, saying they need more help on the bench.

Members of a Senate committee convening in Calgary were told some cases were now delayed for trial until 2018, and Alberta Chief Justice Neil Wittmann blamed what he called Ottawa’s unfathomable failure to fill vacancies.

“There is an alarming increase in lead times in our court ... we have sent home eight because we didn’t have a judge to hear them,” he told the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee.

“There are plenty of candidates in the pool in Alberta ... why it can’t be filled concurrently with the happening of a vacancy has never been explained to me.”

A wait time for criminal cases reaching trial is now typically between 62 and 63 weeks, while civil matters can take 138 weeks, Wittman said, a state of affairs he called “unacceptable.” He said there are nine Court of Queen’s Bench justice vacancies to be filled in Alberta, though Ottawa has insisted there are fewer than that.

Filling six of those spots is urgent, he said.

Wittmann’s provincial court counterpart, Chief Judge Terrence Matchett, agreed, saying “justice delayed truly is justice denied.”

A few decades ago, it wasn’t unusual for provincial court cases to be tried in two to three weeks after a first court appearance.

Now, the norm is five to 10 months, Matchett said.

“The No. 1 priority of our court according to judges is reducing wait times,” he said.

Alberta has the lowest judge per capita ratio in Canada, the committee also heard.

After 20 hearings on the issue, it’s clear the spectre of massive numbers of cases being turfed nationwide is growing, Senator George Baker said.

“If we don’t get ahead of this, there’s a possibility of thousands of cases being thrown out because of court delays,” Baker said.

Diverting more cases from the criminal justice system by means of specialized courts and restorative justice could reduce waits, costs and recidivism, the judges said.

And eliminating preliminary hearings in child sex-assault cases would streamline the system and spare children from the trauma of testifying, said victims’ advocate Sheldon Kennedy.

“The imbalance of power is real,” Kennedy said of children facing their accusers in court.

But he cautioned against cutting too many corners to reduce trial lead-up times.

“Don’t spin people through the system as fast as we can — we need quality,” Kennedy said.

The growing complexities of criminal law and the length of time it takes to process DNA evidence are feeding those delays, city police Chief Roger Chaffin told the committee.

When cases are thrown out due to delay, it’s a major setback for both police and victims, he added.

“That simple delay in court means all that work is destroyed and they have to start over again,” Chaffin said.

“Every delay puts peoples’ lives at risk.”

The committee’s recommendations are to go to Parliament next spring.