Federal government withdraws offer of 17 Alberta family court judges when province won't meet terms

The Alberta government says it won't revamp its court system to get federal funding for 17 judges dedicated to hearing family court cases.

Ottawa now says that $10.9 million a year set aside for those Alberta family court judges is off the table and will be spent in superior court appointments across the country.

"It's profoundly disappointing that they offered those with a number of conditions attached to them," Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery said in an interview Wednesday. "Those conditions simply do not work here in Alberta."

Amery said the province and the federal government agree Alberta's superior court, the Court of King's Bench, needs more judges. However, the United Conservative Party government isn't willing to remodel family courts to get the funding, he said.

Family law is a mix of provincial and federal statutes, which means some Canadians must navigate both provincial and superior courts when disputes arise.

Superior courts with federally-appointed judges have exclusive jurisdiction to hear divorce cases and property issues. Common-law couples can head to the Alberta Court of Justice and appear before provincially-appointed judges. Both courts can hear matters of child support, access and custody.

Unified family courts are a one-stop shop for the public and lawyers. Proponents, including Edmonton family lawyer Jim Bird, say they're convenient, have a consistent set of rules and include judges who specialize in family matters.

A 2009 federal government evaluation of the unified courts, which operate in seven provinces, found they were more likely to offer out-of-court resolutions, could more efficiently resolve some issues, and gave judges more opportunities to collaborate on complex cases.

Bird said unified courts are more accessible for people representing themselves or receiving limited legal help.

The federal government first offered to fund 17 unified family court judge positions in Alberta in 2018, Amery's press secretary, Chinenye Anokwuru said in an email Thursday.

She said Ottawa never put a dollar figure on the offer and that Alberta's court system would have had to pay for courtroom space and support staff.

Alberta declined the offer in March 2020 after the province decided to work within the existing court structure, she said. Publicly, at that time, the government said the unified family court project was suspended.

Amery said the Alberta Court of Justice is effectively handling most cases and would have been cut out of the process.

"Ottawa, once again, as usual, is imposing the Ottawa-knows-best philosophy, and that simply won't work here in this province," he said.

The province has instead introduced a family justice strategy by hiring more staff for "pre-court services" in Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer. The province hope it can divert more families from court hearings by requiring most cases to try mediation first, offering other alternative dispute resolution options, and funding family court counsellors.

Federal budget documents, released Tuesday, say the money allocated for the Alberta judges will be redistributed to appoint superior court judges across the country where they are most needed.

In a statement to CBC News on Friday, Chantalle Aubertin, spokesperson for Justice Minister Arif Virani, said the federal government is committed to enhancing the justice system. 

"Canadians expect their taxpayer dollars to be used efficiently," Aubertin wrote.

"After giving Alberta six years, our government determined that it was time to reallocate these unused judicial salaries, which constitute a significant financial commitment, to where they will be used.

"Our appointments process is working. The suggestion that our government has failed to provide sufficient resources to Canada's superior courts is simply false … On Tuesday, Minister Virani was pleased to appoint seven new judges to Alberta courts, leaving a single vacancy on the Court of Appeal and one vacancy on the Court of King's Bench (created by the elevation of Supreme Court Justice Mary Moreau)."

Lawyers disappointed by move

Bird is among lawyers disappointed by the decisions. He said his clients who need to get before a judge to resolve conflicts are waiting months to get court dates.

It's detrimental to children and parents when heart-wrenching, high-stress family court matters drag on, he said.

Alberta previously had a plan to adopt a unified family court system by 2020, and Bird said he doesn't understand why that changed.

"The blaming doesn't help the regular person or lawyers either way," he said of the federal-provincial political impasse.

Canadian Bar Association Alberta branch president Kyle Kawanami said he is also disappointed the province won't accept dedicated family court judges.

"It's not good news," Kawanami said, adding that he hopes the province will be open to revisiting the idea later.

Not only would a unified family court be easier to navigate, but it would free up other judges to focus on criminal, civil and commercial cases, which would improve overall court access, Kawanami said.

He said he hopes the province's family justice strategy will accomplish some of the efficiencies lawyers are looking for.

NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir said the decision is another move by the UCP government to under-resource Alberta courts. The Opposition supports the unified model.

"The lawyer organizations have been asking for it. Child advocates have been asking for it. Family law practitioners have been asking for it. Everybody was asking for it," Sabir said on Thursday. "But for this government, it's more important to pick fights with the federal government than to do the right thing."