Justice minister wants more women, minorities as judges
Reviews of three cases raise concerns
With three Alberta judges under investigation for their handling of sexual assault cases, Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said Thursday the NDP government is striving for more women and minorities on the bench.
Speaking at an announcement at McDougall Centre, Ganley said the comments made by the judges in recent sexual assault trials that have put them under scrutiny “should be of concern nationwide.”
Ganley acknowledged the selection and training processes for provincial court judges have not changed since the NDP took office last year.
But the cabinet, which has final say over appointments to the provincial bench, wants more diversity in the roster of judges, she said.
“In addition to being very bright people with good legal minds and a good ability to learn, I think judges also need to have a great deal of compassion in order to work in their jobs,” said Ganley.
"So that’s certainly one of the things we’re focused on.
“We’re also focused on ensuring the judiciary, like everything else in government, represents the population that they’re serving . . . Appointments should represent the diversity of the province.”
Candidates for provincial court appointments are screened by the Alberta Judicial Council and interviewed by the Provincial Court Nominating Committee, which makes recommendations to the justice minister.
The government says the provincial court currently has 96 male judges and 41 female judges.
Ganley has appointed four women and one man to the bench since taking office.
Two current judges self-identify as indigenous.
Some legal experts have pointed to a lack of diversity on the provincial bench, along with a lack of training in areas such as gender and race, as factors in three sexual assault trials that have brought judges under review.
Justice Robin Camp, now a federal judge, is the subject of a Canadian Judicial Council inquiry over comments he made as a provincial court judge in 2014.
In that trial, he asked the complainant — a 19-year-old indigenous woman — why she didn’t keep her knees together and mistakenly called her “the accused” repeatedly during the trial.
Public hearings recently concluded, and Camp faces the potential of being removed from his post, depending on the recommendation of the five-member panel.
Provincial Chief Judge Terrence Matchett is also reviewing how two other provincial court judges handled recent sexual assault cases.
One case centres on Justice Pat McIlhargey’s June 2015 acquittal of a 16-year-old boy accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in a park.
Last month, in ordering a new trial, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge said McIlhargey, who noted the complainant did not scream or run for help, allowed “unexplained myths and stereotypes to enter his assessment of the complainant’s credibility.”
In the other case, Judge Michael Savaryn acquitted a 15-year-old boy who grabbed the breasts and buttocks of a girl, also 15, in a high school hallway and tried to kiss her.
He wrote in his decision that the complainant “tried so hard to laugh it all off that I do not believe she was successful in communicating her discomfort.”
In July, the acquittal was overturned by a higher court judge.
The boy was convicted and awaits sentencing.
Ganley also said Thursday she recognizes the need for significant reforms within Alberta in light of a new report that found widespread problems with the criminal justice system across Canada.
The report from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute ranked Alberta sixth overall among provinces and territories, based on statistics compiled between 2012 and 2015.
But the province had the worst rating in the area of fairness and access, indicating low levels of legal aid funding and the most disproportionate level of aboriginal offenders within the corrections system.
Alberta actually stopped providing information on aboriginal incarceration to Statistics Canada in 2013, noted report co-author Benjamin Perrin.
“Ultimately, we need to have a comprehensive raising of the socio-economic status of our First Nations,” said Perrin.
“Providing them with opportunities is obviously the top thing to help break the cycle of crime.”
The report also showed issues with efficiency, with a 35 per cent rate of charges being stayed or withdrawn and a relatively long 183-day average length for criminal cases in Alberta.
Ganley said the NDP government has taken steps such as increasing legal aid funding but acknowledged more work needs to be done.
“It’s really critical we continue to move forward on addressing this issue, not just in terms of the justice system but in terms ... that will ultimately address the underlying drivers that make indigenous people more vulnerable to winding up in the justice system,” she said.