Crown attorneys sound alarm over vacancies
An association representing Alberta’s prosecutors is calling on the province to fill vacancies and create new positions in the face of hundreds of criminal charges being stayed due to a shortfall in resources.
The Alberta Crown Attorneys’ Association said Wednesday 200 cases were stayed across Alberta in the first two months of 2017. On Tuesday, Edmonton’s chief Crown prosecutor stayed 15 cases in provincial court, citing a lack of resources in her office.
“The stays that have happened within the first two months of this year ... unusual is an understatement. They are exceptional,” association president James Pickard said.
He said it’s not just minor cases that are being abandoned in the new “triage” system — among the charges stayed Tuesday were an alleged assault of a police officer and weapons offences. “The tide has risen to the point where we’re concerned that justice is now being threatened, and that the public may start to question the efficacy of the criminal justice system,” he said.
According to the association, Alberta has 35 prosecutor vacancies — including 13-1/2 in the Edmonton office — because of a ministry-wide “hiring restraint” policy.
Asked about the effect that dwindling resources are having on morale, association vice-president Breena Smith said in the past three years, the Edmonton Crown office has lost 44 prosecutors, whose collective experience amounted to 569 years.
The association is calling for all current vacancies to be filled, and for the creation of new positions. There’s been a steady increase in the number and seriousness of criminal prosecutions heard in provincial court. In 2015-16, more than 100,000 cases were commenced, an eightper-cent jump from the previous year, it said.
The association attributes the caseload to a growing population, and hopes the government will create an additional 50 prosecutor positions, plus hire additional support staff. The association estimates this would cost the province about $10 million to $12 million a year.
The Supreme Court of Canada’s July 2016 Jordan decision, which capped wait times for trials at 18 months, caused additional pressure.
Responding to the association’s comments Wednesday, Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley reiterated her earlier comments that the government is in the process of hiring 14 prosecutors.
“With respect to other positions, we’ll have to await the budget,” Ganley said of the association’s requests, adding the government is still trying to find efficiencies across the court system, not just in the Crown office.