Justice Committee on Sept. 19th, 2018

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.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Anthony Housefather

Randy Boissonnault

Also speaking

Tony Paisana L & LR Coordinator, Canadian Bar Association

Michael Johnston Barrister-at-Law, As an Individual

Kathryn Pentz Vice-Chair, Canadian Bar Association

Rob Nicholson Niagara Falls, CPC

Cheryl Webster Professor, University of Ottawa, As an Individual

Anthony Doob Professor Emeritus, Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto, As an Individual

Jane Sprott Professor, Ryerson University, As an Individual

Nicole Myers Department of Sociology, Queen's University, As an Individual

Rebecca Bromwich Director, Conflict Resolution Program, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University, As an Individual

Kendall Yamagishi External Relations Committee Member, Society of United Professionals

Garrett Zehr External Relations Committee Member, Society of United Professionals

Stephanie Heyens Senior Criminal Litigator, York Region, Legal Aid Ontario, As an Individual

Sarah Leamon Criminal Defence Lawyer, Leamon Roudette Law Group, As an Individual

Sayeh Hassan Criminal Defence Lawyer, Walter Fox & Associates, As an Individual

Brian Gover President, The Advocates' Society

Geoffrey Cowper Lawyer, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, As an Individual

Arif Virani Parkdale—High Park, Lib.

Todd Doherty Cariboo—Prince George, CPC

September 19th, 2018 / 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.

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?

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—

Cariboo—Prince George, CPC

Or in areas like Cariboo—Prince George, where I am.

Criminal Defence Lawyer, Leamon Roudette Law Group, As an Individual

Yes, exactly. Prince George is a place that does regularly experience judicial vacancies—

Cariboo—Prince George, CPC

Absolutely.

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—

Cariboo—Prince George, CPC

Right.

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—

Cariboo—Prince George, CPC

Delays, delays.

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.

Cariboo—Prince George, CPC

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

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.