Judge’s half-century on the bench nets words of wisdom

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Canada’s judicial system may not be broken, but it is showing a few cracks which could use a little caulking and maybe a fresh coat of paint.

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Unfortunately, both judicial reform and funding of our court system is not a priority for any government across the nation, either federally or provincially.

That fact was eloquently pointed out last week by Justice Brian Stevenson, who celebrated an astounding 50th anniversary on the bench on July 9.

Judges don’t normally weigh in on political issues, but the Calgary Court of Justice judge took the opportunity to express his opinion based on his half-century of judicial experience.

While Stevenson applauded the work done by judges, lawyers and court administrators making “this court one of the very best in our nation,” he also said improvements could make Canadians’ access to justice even better.

“As with any human endeavour, change is a constant demand and unfortunately governments at all levels do not have justice as a prominent part of their agenda,” he told a packed courtroom there to celebrate his unprecedented accomplishment.

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“First, in my view, it is time to take a hard look at unifying our provincial and federal courts – not only in Alberta, but across our nation,” Stevenson said.

“It is time to consider having one court for criminal trials, one court for family and youth matters and one court for civil trials.”

For those unfamiliar with the justice system, all Canadian provinces have two levels of trial courts often leaving participants and litigants scratching their heads as to where their cases should proceed.

At least in criminal cases, part of the reason there is a Court of Justice (formerly provincial court) and Court of King’s Bench is to allow for preliminary inquiries at one level and jury trials at the other.

But as Stevenson noted preliminary inquiries, which allow defence counsel to test the evidence before trials, have become obsolete with mandatory disclosure rules providing lawyers with the entire Crown case.

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And it is more pomp and circumstance, rather than expertise, or need, that jury trials are only presided over by King’s Bench judges.

In fact, as Stevenson noted, judges in the so-called lower court generally have more experience as they spend much more time in courtrooms than judges at the King’s Bench level.

“In my opinion, for both economic and expertise reasons, it just makes sense – common sense – at least at the trial level – to combine federal and provincial courts in Canada,” Stevenson said.

As much sense as it makes, however, there may simply not be the political motivation to do it as provincial court judges in Alberta are currently appointed by Edmonton and federal court judges by Ottawa.

But Stevenson also addressed a more pressing need, and one that also seems to have little political motivation to resolve.

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As he noted, Calgary and its surrounding region continues to grow and with greater population comes more crime.

Despite that, courts at both levels continue to be understaffed.

“In the past three or four years it has become apparent – at least in Calgary – that there is a serious lack of resources for justices, judicial executive assistants, court clerks and court administrative personnel to perform their duties,” his honour said.

“Quite frankly, if these identified shortages are not addressed promptly it may come to the point where we will have to consider closing courts.”

Fewer courtrooms will mean fewer trial and ultimately greater delays in people’s access to justice.

If that occurs there may be many criminal charges thrown out for unreasonable delay, something that won’t be good for all Canadians.

Perhaps it’s time the politicians in Canada take a good hard look at the judicial system and maybe heed the sage words of someone whose been part of it for 50 years.

KMartin@postmedia.com
X: @KMartinCourts

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