Justice Minister Tyler Shandro says no criminal cases at risk over delay — but there are thousands
More than 3,000 cases in provincial court alone at risk of being tossed over unreasonable delay
Less than two weeks into his role as Alberta Justice Minister, Tyler Shandro — who is being investigated by the law society for misconduct — has sparked controversy after making comments that the province has no criminal court cases at risk of being tossed because of unreasonable delay.
In fact, Alberta has thousands of cases at risk of being tossed because of unreasonable delay.
Speaking at the Alberta Municipalities Conference on Wednesday, Shandro was asked by Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara whether the province planned to hire more Crown prosecutors as promised in the last election.
"We don't have any Jordan situations right now," Shandro said in response. "And typically Alberta has been a lot better than other provinces in making sure we don't get to a 30-month window."
Minister is 'wrong,' says defence lawyer
The Jordan decision was issued by the country's highest court in July 2016 and deals with an accused person's right to be tried within a reasonable amount of time. It puts hard timelines on what is considered unreasonable delay in getting a case from charge to trial.
For provincial court cases, the timeline is 18 months while superior court matters have up to 30 months.
The minister is simply "wrong," says defence lawyer Andrea Urquhart, who has several cases — including a murder trial — that could be tossed because of unreasonable delay.
"He really is on an island on his own in terms of what actually is going on day to day inside the courts," said Urquhart.
"It's concerning that a minister who was very recently appointed in this role is speaking about such crucial issues without knowing the information or the facts behind those assertions. Clearly he's wrong."
1,282 violent cases at risk in provincial court
In provincial court alone, there were more than 3,000 cases beyond the 18-month threshold as of Dec. 31, 2021, according to numbers provided by the Alberta Crown Attorneys' Association.
Of those cases, 1,281 involve "serious and violent" charges, says association president Dallas Sopko, who called Shandro's comments "inaccurate."
"The current numbers are likely somewhat higher than that, as a result of a period of reduced court sittings caused by the Omicron variant in the new year," said Sopko.
Those numbers do not include the statistics from the Court of Queen's Bench, Alberta's superior court, which even more than provincial court deals with serious and violent offences.
"If for political motivation he wishes to make these statements to perhaps project the effectiveness of himself in this role, that's concerning because what it means is that the Alberta government will continue to do nothing to address the systemic delays in the court system," said Urquhart.
She calls the situation "very concerning."
"It shows that he's not working with the Crown prosecutors association to understand the issues with respect to justice, and it doesn't appear that he's working closely with the court system."
Law society investigating Shandro for misconduct
On Feb. 25, Shandro was shuffled into the justice portfolio after an investigation found Kaycee Madu had attempted to interfere with the administration of justice while serving as justice minister.
The investigation was conducted by retired Alberta Court of Queen's Bench justice Adèle Kent.
It was prompted after CBC News reported that Madu had telephoned Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee to discuss a $300 distracted driving ticket he had received on March 10, 2021.
There are concerns over Shandro's appointment as justice minister because he faces three allegations of professional misconduct and is awaiting a disciplinary hearing before the Law Society of Alberta's conduct committee.
The minister is accused of using his former position as health minister to get the private phone numbers of doctors who protested his public appearance at a hospital.
Shandro speaking about 'overall situation'
In a statement sent to CBC News on Friday evening, Shandro's press secretary said the issue of Jordan applications is "complex."
"The Minister's comment related to the overall situation here in Alberta on the basis that the current number of successful Jordan applications is less than 0.1 per cent of charges laid since 2016," wrote Joseph Dow.
As of September 2021, 407 cases in Alberta were tosses — either by judges or prosecutors — due to unreasonable delay, said Dow.
Delay due to the pandemic has generally been considered an exceptional circumstance which may not count toward the calculation of a case's timeline.
Dow also pointed out that the UCP government has "made good" on its commitment to add 50 new Crown prosecutor positions by 2022-23 and says "work is actively underway to fill any outstanding vacancies."
With files from Janet French and Janice Johnston