Prince George's legal community continues to wait for a new B.C. Supreme Court Justice nearly a year after Eric Chamberlist retired from the job.
With Chamberlist's retirement last July, Glen Parrett is currently the only B.C. Supreme Court Justice based in Prince George and it's becoming an issue, said lawyer Harris Johnsen, who is the northern representative on the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C.
"What they have been doing for some time in the supreme court situation in Prince George is flying judges in and out of Vancouver," Johnsen said.
The arrangement creates plenty of inconvenience in terms of fixing dates for trials "and I'm sure there is a pretty significant [travel] expense associated with that," Johnsen said.
The federal government appoints Supreme Court Justices and Minister of Justice press secretary Pamela Stephens said the search is ongoing.
"In jurisdictions outside the larger urban centres, it is not unusual for the judicial appointment process to take some additional time to complete," she said in an e-mail "I would also point out that the federal election called earlier this year caused unforeseen delays in the process."
Johnsen works exclusively on supreme court cases but has heard there is a need for more judges in provincial court.
In the last 11 months two provincial court cases have been dismissed due to delays caused by a lack of resources and the issued was raised in a third case although the charge was stayed for a different reason.
There are a dozen full-time and one part-time provincial court judge in the Cariboo-Northeast District and the B.C. Ministry of Attorney General says it costs $1.6 million a year per judge once court services, sheriffs, criminal justice branch and judicial support salaries and other costs are accounted for.
