Increased flight cancellations result in surge of northern Manitoba court delays

The challenge of administering justice in remote northern Manitoba communities isn't a new issue, but one that's been exacerbated in recent months.

An industry-wide pilot shortage is contributing to cancelled flights to the province's 22 fly-in communities for circuit court proceedings, resulting in delays that last up to several months.

The inability to fly court parties — including the defence lawyer, Crown attorney, judge, clerk, sheriffs and court workers — to remote communities never used to be this bad, criminal defence attorney Chris Sigurdson said Friday.

He's been going to northern Manitoba for more than 20 years and used to have one or two cancelled trips a year. But there have been at least 10 cancellations, not related to weather, since last spring, he estimated.

"Probably about half the time or more we haven't been able to fly. We're told at the last minute or the evening before that there's an issue … and it's always the lack of a plane or lack of a pilot," Sigurdson said.

He was scheduled to fly to St. Theresa Point, about 465 km northeast of the capital, on Thursday, and arrived at the Winnipeg airport that morning only to find out his charter had been cancelled. 

Sigurdson admitted that he's fed up.

"It's annoying that I can't go. But the real issue is that the people in those communities aren't being served. People in those communities can't have their cases heard because we're not there." 

Delaying court proceedings will only cause more issues with people left on bail for too long, Sigurdson said.

"It's already difficult enough that our system shows up in their community and tries to dispense justice. If we say we're coming and we don't, it causes difficulties," he said.

Fellow Winnipeg criminal defence lawyer Kaitlynn Porath has been stuck in Thompson, Man., about 760 km north of the provincial capital, trying to fly to a court hearing.

Porath has missed numerous court dates in Cross Lake, about 500 km north of Winnipeg, with delays lasting anywhere from two to six months.

"We'll go to court the next month, but there's already matters set for that next month as well. So unless something changes, how are we to accommodate and reset these trials?

"There's other trials that are already set, so it's hard to say how many months [we're behind], but it's basically undetermined at that point when court is cancelled," she said.

A 2016 Supreme Court of Canada decision capped provincial court trials at 18 months. That means if proceedings aren't held within a year-and-a-half of when police lay charges, then cases can be dismissed. 

Porath said northern Manitoba is "notoriously under-resourced and underfunded" and there's a "crisis of defence lawyers in Thompson." 

"People have their constitutional right to adjudicate their matter in a timely fashion and that's being impacted," she said.

Exchange Income Corporation, which runs carriers like Keewatin Air and Perimeter Aviation, operate the flights that fly court parties to northern communities.

The company, which has a contract with Manitoba's justice department, said it's affected by the same pilot shortage impacting the big carriers in the aftermath of the pandemic.

It's trying to hire more staff after some of their pilots went to work for the big carriers, a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

"Our organization has made every effort to deliver transportation services as prescribed by the contract. This has included attempting to contract non-affiliated carriers to increase capacity but have met with limited success as other carriers are equally, if not more, impacted by this industry-wide challenge," the spokesperson wrote.

In the meantime, however, some clients are taking their legal fate into their own hands.

"They're stuck in custody now until they can actually have their matter heard or their trial, and often clients will say: 'That's too long for me to wait.' [They ask] what is the Crown offering on a guilty plea and they will plead guilty and take a deal to just to get out of custody," Porath said.

The province said it is working to ensure timely access to justice for all parties, but the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba wants to talk to the government about possible solutions.

Chris Gamby is a spokesperson for the association and a practicing Winnipeg attorney.

He too has been stuck in northern Manitoba, having had to take a bus from Norway House, about 800 km north of Winnipeg, to the city last October.

Gamby estimates more than half of flights to remote communities are being cancelled.

"I think it really is about gathering data and trying to understand the scope of the issue. From there, it may be that we make some moves toward discussions with the government to come up with a solution," he said.

"The alternative will be that there may be some legal action that needs to be taken and that may delay motions."

Increased flight cancellations result in surge of northern Manitoba court delays

2 years ago

Duration 2:21

The challenge of administering justice in remote northern Manitoba communities isn't a new issue, but one that's been exacerbated in recent months. An industry-wide pilot shortage is contributing to cancelled flights to the province's 22 fly-in communities for circuit court proceedings, resulting in delays that last up to several months.