Senators look to provinces for solutions to court delays

A senate committee is in B.C. to ask the province for ideas on solving the national problem of lengthy court delays.

Senator and committee member Denise Batters said there are thousands of cases across the country that are delayed by months or even years, undermining access to justice.

The committee is on a national tour to seek solutions from the provinces.

The committee has already made recommendations in an interim report to alleviate court delays based on earlier findings.

These findings include reducing unnecessary court appearances, filling judicial vacancies, implementing alternative court models, and investing in technology.

Batters said her committee is particularly interested in how B.C. tackles impaired driving charges.

"There's a real glut of impaired driving cases in the criminal justice system in Canada," she explained, adding there were almost 40,000 cases in 2013-2014 that take on average 141 days each to complete.

In B.C., she explained, the province has been using administrative penalties to divert some of these cases from the criminal system.

"There's pros and cons to it … but we're seeking more efficient ways of dealing with those cases."

A sense of urgency

In a summer ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada introduced strict new deadlines for criminal trials in order to respect the accused's Charter right to be tried within a reasonable time frame.

But Batters said the stricter deadlines could result in thousands of cases getting tossed out.

"They are effectively walking free without having to face trial ... that's a very dire consequence."

Batters said victims are re-victimized — not only by re-living tragedies by going to adjournment after adjournment, but in some cases having to watch their perpetrators go free. 

"The time to act on court delays is now. We can't afford to wait because justice will suffer and it does really undermine the public's confidence in the Canadian justice system."

The committee will release its final report in March 2017.

With files from The Early Edition

To hear the interview, click on the link labelled Lengthy court delays undermine justice system: senator