Sussex court closure creates concern

Sussex residents are wondering if the closure of the local courthouse will affect how justice is served in the area.

The closure of the courts in Sussex, St. Stephen, Grand Manan and Grand Falls was announced in Tuesday's provincial budget.

Cases from Sussex will now be heard in Saint John, which is about 75 kilometres away.

Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne said he wasn't surprised to hear of the closure, but he is disappointed.

"The most affected will be those that are the most vulnerable within our society," said Thorne.

"Not just the accused, but many of the victims have limited means and when we remove the courthouse from our community, having to travel to Saint John will definitely … impact their ability to make court appearances."

Emily Palmer, a Sussex lawyer and a former mayor of the town, said she is also concerned.

"Maybe it's a theft of something — somebody's bicycle — and it's not all that monetarily valuable, but it's important to them," she said.

"They're going to think twice — `I don't want to go to, I don't want to have to travel to Saint John to give evidence,'"

The Sussex courthouse has operated out of a provincially-owned building and is normally used one or two days a week, with a judge and court clerks travelling to Sussex for judicial proceedings.