- The difference between a divorce and an annulment - April 15, 2024
- Hidden costs to be aware of when buying a house - April 3, 2024
- The rules about legally transporting a firearm in Canada - April 1, 2024
By LegalMatters Staff • The lack of timely trials in Alberta was recently addressed by Canada’s top judge.
“In Alberta, 22 per cent of criminal cases exceeded the 30-month delay set out in the [Jordan Decision] and 91 per cent of those cases involve serious and violent crimes,” Chief Justice Richard Wagner said in June, according to media reports.
The Jordan decision is a 2016 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that set down timelines for when the trial must be heard. For charges in the Alberta Court of Justice, the timeline is 18 months. For Court of King’s Bench matters, the timeline is 30 months.
“There are many reasons for the slow pace of justice in Alberta,” says Calgary criminal lawyer Matthew Deshaye. “They include vacant judge appointments at every court level, the backlog of cases due to COVID-19, a shortage of courtrooms and the lack of staff to make them run efficiently.”
Information from the province shows that 423 Jordan applications were filed in Alberta courts between Oct. 25, 2016 and March 31, 2023. Of those 125 were dismissed by the court, 40 were granted, 61 were abandoned by the defence and 74 were proactively stayed by the Crown on the basis they would not survive the Jordan application. Another 120 were resolved in ways unrelated to Jordan.
“It all comes down to fairness,” says Deshaye. “If someone is accused of a crime, they deserve their day in court to argue why they are not guilty. They also want the cloud of suspicion that accompanies criminal proceedings lifted.”
He adds that timely trials are also important to maintaining overall public confidence in the administration of justice.
