Justice Mark Tyndale said the continued lack of government funding of the system could soon come with dire consequences
The need to merge two Calgary Court of Justice trial courts into one shows the provincial government holds the legal system in contempt, a judge suggested Monday.
And Justice Mark Tyndale said the continued lack of government funding of the system could soon come with dire consequences.
In personal comments made at the conclusion of court proceedings Tyndale was asked if limited judicial resources were the cause of the two courtrooms being merged into one for the foreseeable future.
“It is absolutely due to a dearth of judges,” Tyndale said.
“This government has constantly refused to live up (to), in terms of judicial resources, what is their legal obligation under an MOU (memorandum of understanding),” the veteran judge said.
He added scarce resources have also put pressure on court clerks and the prosecution service “to deal with the overwhelming number of cases coming in.”
It was noted Justice Minister Mickey Amery is scheduled to attend a Crown conference later this week.
“I’m not sure what kind of pull Minister Amery has with our premier (Danielle Smith), but it’s our premier and her cabinet within a cabinet that seems to hold our courts in contempt somehow,” Tyndale said.
“It’s gonna become increasingly problematic.”
Calgary’s Court of Justice is currently short several judicial appointments which resulted in a rotation of judges from other parts of the province or from the family and youth division to have to fill in this past summer.
But Tyndale said the system is going to grind further to a halt because members of the Calgary bench have now decided they won’t be putting in free time to fill in gaps.
“The judges have decided they are no longer going to give up chambers days, they’re no longer going to give up vacation days, they no longer are going to give up other matters like dealing with warrants, etc., that happens behind the scene in order to bend over backwards to keep our trial docket going,” he said.
“And ultimately what will happen is there will be a trial matter that will be adjourned because there is simply no judges and perhaps no clerks and maybe no Crowns to prosecute it and that will result, in my view, and this is my personal view, this government won’t care until the front page of the Calgary Herald says ‘drug dealer walks,’ or God forbid ‘child molester walks free,’ because the government will not live up to its legal obligations to properly staff the court system.
“That’s the only thing they’ll respond to which is unfortunate, because it means that somewhere to get there, to do the right thing, at least one victim will be seriously harmed with no recourse.”