Ontario invests $29M to address court backlog, but lawyer says it won't help Sudbury

While a new investment from the province to address the criminal court backlog will help some communities, a defence attorney in Sudbury says it won't make much of a difference in the northern Ontario city.

Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General is investing $29 million to appoint at least 25 new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, and hire 190 court staff, including Crown prosecutors.

Glenn Sandberg, a defence attorney who practices in Sudbury and Toronto, says that while the news will be welcome in many communities where there are vacancies at the Ontario Court of Justice, it won't help with the backlog in Sudbury.

"We have an acute shortage of high court judges," Sandberg said. "We are in very desperate need of a lot of high court judge appointments."

Sandberg says delays in Sudbury are longest in the Superior Court of Justice, which falls under federal jurisdiction.

Delays in Ontario's court system, and across Canada, really started during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandberg says.

At the start of the pandemic in 2020 Ontario courts were closed for a few months and then reopened over Zoom and similar services.

"When the world went dark, things shut down. The backlog of course happens," Sandberg said.

Sandberg adds the province has tended to appoint new judges from its pool of Crown attorneys. Those attorneys who are promoted will need to be replaced.

Sara-Jane Berghammer, the CEO of the John Howard Society of Sudbury, says delays in the criminal court system can cause serious harm to victims and those accused of a crime.

"If people are not being seen and heard in court in a timely fashion, it becomes very problematic and it really does a disservice to the person and to the victim if they can't rectify the matter in a decent amount of time," she said.

In Canada, the Jordan decision says it's unreasonable for a provincial court case to take longer than 18 months, and a federal case to go beyond 30 months.

When a court finds a delay to be unreasonable it can issue a stay of proceedings in which the prosecution ends and the accused is free to go.

Alternatives to criminal court

It's the John Howard Society's view that only the most serious criminal cases should go to trial, and alternatives should be explored for minor offences.

"What could be done currently is more referrals to programs that we have," Berghammer said.

Those programs include a pre-charge program for minor offences. Instead of pressing charges a police officer can choose to refer the accused to the John Howard Society where restorative measures are considered. This diverts the case away from the court system.

Berghammer says support for programs like that one would help address the court backlog across Ontario.