B.C. Justice Minister Shirley Bond's plan to make the courts more efficient may deliver some long-term solutions but is falling short of addressing the immediate problems, says the president of the B.C. Crown Counsel Association.
"I think Minister Bond is on the right track in terms of long-term systemic thinking but unfortunately there is no short-term action and short-term action was required two years ago and it can't wait another six months," said Samiran Lakshman.
On Monday, Bond outlined the provincial government's plan to reform its justice system, nearly two months after a government-ordered review concluded a "culture of delay" has contributed to an an unacceptable backlog within the courts.
Bond identified 10 steps, some that will happen immediately and others that will take a year or more to complete, but she suggested fixing the problem won't necessarily require more money or new judges.
They include a new Justice and Public Safety Council to guide reforms, an increased focus on technology, and detailed tracking of the system's performance.
As of March 31, there were 2,472 cases that have been before the courts for more than 18 months, according to a report from the provincial court of B.C., which Lakshman said is only a slight improvement over the 2,522 as of Sept. 30, 2011.
And most of that decrease was due to cases being dismissed because they've taken too long to go to trial, in contravention of the accused's Charter rights, according to Lakshman.
He added that the government has effectively imposed a hiring freeze through an onerous approval system.
"We already know we have a backlog in the system, we already know we need to open more courtrooms and yet what we're faced with is now not even being able to do what our budget allows and that is to hire people when they need to be replaced," he said.
He also maintained that while Bond says the province's justice system costs $1 billion a year, the courts make up only a portion of that total with the rest going to policing and corrections.
The plan is a response to a report authored by lawyer Geoffrey Cowper, who was appointed earlier this year to review the justice system amid concerns over persistent delays.
Cowper concluded court backlogs were the work of a legal culture that encourages delays and resists change, and he dismissed the suggestion that simply spending more money would fix the problem.
Bond's newly released plan includes many of Cowper's recommendations.
The new council will oversee reforms, create a yearly justice and public safety plan, hold a yearly justice summit, and establish detailed performance tracking.
The province will draft a technology strategy that will increase electronic filing and speed up communication between Crown and defence, and it will work with the provincial court to develop a new scheduling system to ensure court resources are being used efficiently.
The province will also work with the judiciary to determine how many judges are required within the system.
- with files from Canadian Press
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