Global Courant
Canada’s Supreme Court chief justice said Tuesday that the federal Liberal government’s slow judicial nomination process is allowing some alleged criminals to walk out because there aren’t enough judges to hear cases in a timely manner.
At a press conference at the end of the session, Chief Justice Richard Wagner told reporters he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this year to pressure him to speed up the nomination process.
Wagner said he wanted to “warn him of the serious consequences of this lack of agreement.”
He said the prime minister had called him back for a brief chat but had not seen much progress so far.
Wagner was also questioned about Russell Brown, the former Supreme Court justice who resigned Monday after the Canadian Judicial Council launched an investigation into a drunken brawl at an Arizona resort earlier this year.
WATCH: Chief Justice discusses the effects of judicial vacancies across the country
Chief Justice discusses the effects of judicial vacancies across the country
“If the government at least appointed judges where there are vacancies,” says Chief Justice Richard Wagner, “that would help. That would be a great, very good remedy, at least in the short term.”
Because of Brown’s early retirement, the CJC dropped its investigation into the matter, which included allegations of unwanted touching and harassment.
Wagner – chair of the CJC but not responsible for reviewing cases of judicial misconduct – said he understands the frustration that the CJC’s conclusions will never be made public.
“I share the public’s concern about transparency,” Wagner said, adding that he asked the CJC to review its “opaque” approach to judicial misconduct with a view to greater openness.
Reporters questioned a lack of closure as the public will never really know what happened on that January night in Scottsdale.
“There is closure. He has resigned,” he said. “That’s the end of the process.”
WATCH: Chief Justice says he is ‘proud’ of judicial review process
The chief justice says he is “proud” of the judicial review process
Chief Justice Richard Wagner says Canadians are “lucky … to have a number of institutions that deal with these complaints.” He was questioned by reporters about the case of Russell Brown, who announced Monday that he was stepping down as a member of the Supreme Court of Canada, ending a Canadian Judicial Council investigation into a misconduct claim against him.
On the issue of court appointments, Wagner said he hopes Trudeau and Attorney General David Lametti, who appoints judges, will make well-qualified appointments to end months-long vacancies.
He said there is an “alarming” shortage of federally appointed judges and that current vacancy rates — 10 to 15 percent in some jurisdictions — make for an unsustainable situation.
The federal government appoints judges to the federal courts, the superior courts of the provinces and territories, and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Wagner said the Montreal district of the Superior Court of Quebec, one of the busiest in the country, has been without a chief judge for 16 months.
“There are candidates in every county. There’s no reason they can’t be filled,” Wagner said. “This could easily be fixed. So wait and see now.”
The shortfall means judges have to make tough decisions about which criminal cases to hear first – leading some accused criminals to walk away because their cases have waited too long for trial.
“In some provinces, judges are called to make decisions about which case goes forward. In criminal cases, they say, ‘This one has to go ahead of the other,'” Wagner said.
“We shouldn’t be asking judges to make those decisions. I think we should correct the system.”
The 2016 Supreme Court of Canada decision R. v. Jordan dictated that trials must end 18 or 30 months after an individual is charged, depending on the type of trial.
The court ruled that unreasonable delays should result in the proceedings being “suspended”, which effectively means that a lawsuit cannot proceed.
That groundbreaking decision has had a series of domino effects. Hundreds of criminal cases have been dropped, leaving victims and their families without a sense of justice.
But Wagner, who was on the Supreme Court when the Jordan decision was handed down, said the court-imposed deadlines are not to blame for continued frustration over the trial’s timelines.
It’s the lack of judges and the fact that provincial governments give their justice systems enough money, he said.
The federal government appoints and pays the judges of superior courts, but provinces and territories actually administer them.
“A society like ours, governed by the rule of law with a strong democracy and a Charter of Rights, should be able to ensure that criminal trials take place with a reasonable delay,” Wagner said, adding that it is not appropriate for victims and witnesses to wait seven or eight years for a trial.
Asked by reporters when he would start filling some of the dozen positions that are vacant, Lametti said, “We’re working on that. We’re working diligently on that and we’ll continue to fill it.”
When asked if cases were thrown out due to delays, Lametti said he “always worries about that”.
“We work diligently. I would like to point out that the vast majority of criminal cases are actually done in provincial courts across Canada,” he said.
Lametti said the process to choose Brown’s replacement for the Supreme Court will be like that for the Liberal government’s previous appointments.
For Trudeau’s last five Supreme Court picks, an independent advisory board was established to identify suitable candidates and make non-binding recommendations to the prime minister.
Trudeau’s picks then filled out a questionnaire, which was made public, and MPs and senators were given the opportunity to question them before a parliamentary committee.
In accordance with convention, another Westerner will likely be appointed to fill the spot left by BC native Brown, who served on Alberta’s Court of Appeals before former Prime Minister Stephen Harper took him to the final Court of Appeals from Canada.
