Evidence of meeting #106 for Justice and Human Rights in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was conditions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
8:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
I don't want to overreach this. If you want to rephrase your question to bring it into Bill C-75, I'm allowing you to do so.
8:40 p.m.
Cariboo—Prince George, CPC
Ms. Leamon, you were asked to submit testimony on ways that perhaps could reduce court delays. Not being a lawyer, as are many others around the table, I read your brief, and one of the suggestions that you brought up was the prompt filling of judicial vacancies.
Can you perhaps provide some of your own experiences with regard to a lack of available judges?
8:45 p.m.
Criminal Defence Lawyer, Leamon Roudette Law Group, As an Individual
I can. I can tell you that this problem is most frequently occurring in more remote communities, so practising in Vancouver in the Lower Mainland—
8:45 p.m.
Cariboo—Prince George, CPC
Or in areas like Cariboo—Prince George, where I am.
8:45 p.m.
Criminal Defence Lawyer, Leamon Roudette Law Group, As an Individual
Yes, exactly. Prince George is a place that does regularly experience judicial vacancies—
8:45 p.m.
Criminal Defence Lawyer, Leamon Roudette Law Group, As an Individual
—and there are places like that throughout northern British Columbia.
There are places like Fort McMurray, for instance—
8:45 p.m.
Criminal Defence Lawyer, Leamon Roudette Law Group, As an Individual
—my hometown. I practise there as well. There are two judges there, so if one judge is sick and the other one catches a cold—
8:45 p.m.
Criminal Defence Lawyer, Leamon Roudette Law Group, As an Individual
Yes, there are all kinds of problems, so it's important for us to have all of these resources available. I do think it's important to make the point that funding legal aid is just as important as filling judicial vacancies as well, but we do have to approach it from a multi-faceted perspective, and that's just one element of it.
8:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Anthony Housefather
Thank you.
Again, colleagues, it's been a long day. I thank you all for your patience.
Thank you to our witnesses.
To the The Advocates' Society, thank you for coming in from Toronto. We really appreciate it.
To all three of you, thank you so much.
The meeting is adjourned.