NDP accused of failing to address threats to justice
EDMONTON The Alberta government is failing to take criminal justice backlogs seriously in light of new information suggesting that hundreds of cases could be dismissed due to delays, says Wildrose Leader Brian Jean.
“The major thing is to allocate enough resources to immediately get enough Crown prosecutors and judges in place to respond to this,” Jean said last week.
“We have a lot of lawyers who don’t have work . . . They would love to supplement their income with Crown prosecutor work.”
Information from Alberta Justice showed more than 1,400 cases could be at risk of being thrown out for lagging trials — including 209 Court of Queen’s Bench cases involving serious and violent crimes.
The 2016 Jordan decision from the Supreme Court of Canada imposed limits for when a trial should begin after charges have been laid.
For the Court of Queen’s Bench, that ceiling is 30 months, while provincial court cases have an 18-month benchmark. A “Jordan application” can be made by the accused after the deadline to have the case tossed.
“There’s no doubt that delay has steadily increased over time,” said Kelly Dawson, criminal lawyer and former president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association.
He noted the number of cases truly at risk of being dismissed is significantly lower than 1,400 — Jordan applications are only successful if trial delays are entirely attributable to the Crown and justice system.
Dawson explained that over the last several years, those working in Alberta’s justice system have dealt with increasing caseloads and dwindling resources.
The solution may include increasing the threshold required to charge someone with a crime, he said. But Dawson is concerned policy-makers could opt for the “low-hanging fruit,” quashing preliminary inquiries and charter applications, an approach he believes would do little to address the backlog.
“The system must primarily ensure a fair trial for the (accused),” he said.
James Pickard, president of the Alberta Crown Attorneys’ Association, said prosecutors are abandoning more files as police lay more charges and Alberta’s population rises. The government implemented a “triage” policy in the spring to choose cases that could be stayed or resolved to reduce pressure on the system.
“Many prosecutors still struggle with abandoning viable and significant prosecutions but have no choice ... as there has not yet been an adequate response to the (resource) crisis facing the criminal justice system in Alberta,” Pickard said in an email last week. “Jordan is a warning that we all have to reexamine how justice is provided in Alberta.”
Defence lawyer Tom Engel filed a Jordan application earlier this year for his client Lance David Blanchard, who was found guilty in December of dragging a 27-yearold woman into his apartment and sexually assaulting her. The application was rejected in June.
The judge ruled the Crown could justify the delay, Engel said.
“Mainly because it’s an exceptional case, it went on to a complicated stay application … and then there’s a dangerous offender application.
“By the time we’re done, it’s going to be ... pushing four years,” Engel said, noting charges were laid against Blanchard in 2014. “There’s a lot of stress for the accused. By the same token, there’s stress for all participants.”
He said he wasn’t surprised by the number of cases that may be affected by the Jordan ruling given “delays typical in our system.”
“What it says, obviously, is that cases are taking way too long to finish,” Engel said, suggesting it begs the question whether too many cases are going to trial.
“Talk to any defence counsel, all of them have seen a lot of cases where they wonder, ‘Why is the Crown prosecuting this case? It’s a weak case, it’s not that serious.’ ”
But Jean believes the answer doesn’t lie in reducing the number of prosecutions.
“Crown prosecutors already have the discretion to drop cases,” he said. “All levels of government have failed to address this growing crisis. Instead of putting a Band-Aid on a major artery, they need to take that system into surgery and fix it.”