B.C. has the least legal aid in Canada

Nine provincial judges were recently announced, but British Columbia needs another 13 judges

(L to R) Russ Kinghorn, Cranbrook Rotary club president; Sharon D. Matthews, the president of the Canadian Bar Association; and Rotarian Don Kawano. Matthews spoke at the Heritage Inn in Cranbrook on February 15, 2012. — Breanne Massey photo

Provincial courts are being delayed by people who are self-represented, and serious offenders are walking away without a penalty.

The cost and complexity of hearing trials from unrepresented people has devastated provincial resources. A hearing or trial costs $486 in courtroom facilities and clerical staff, the Crown counsel costs between $318 and $879, and the cost of a provincial or Supreme Court judge will cost between $1,055 and $1,241 without benefits.

“It is a chronic problem,” said Sharon D. Matthews, the president of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA). “Ninety to 95 per cent of family law cases in provincial court involve a person who is self-represented, and those people—through no fault of their own—take up more time and more taxpayer-funded resources to go through the system—simply because they don’t understand it and they need to have it explained to them in a way that is very time consuming.”

Explanations occurring within court proceedings for people without legal representation have delayed all of the other provincial cases.

“It slows down the criminal cases,” said Matthews. “It’s one of the reasons why we’re seeing the backlog of criminal cases resulting in stays of cases, and it also affects business.”

Businesses that are trying to get their disputes resolved in courts are in the same lineup, and they are caught in the same set of delays.

“Unfortunately, self-represented people is not a small number of litigants,” said Matthews. “It’s a significant player certainly in provincial court and a growing significant player in Supreme Court.”

According to a study conducted by the Canadian Bar Association, up to 27 per cent of unrepresented people received a jail sentence, and 60 per cent of the accused were sentenced. Alternatively, 80 per cent of people who had legal representation did not proceed to a trial because eight out of 10 cases were resolved during negotiations.

Matthews has been speaking at a series of public forums to educate residents of B.C. about the shortcomings of their legal system. She addressed the Cranbrook Rotary club on February 15, 2012. Matthews spoke about creating a solution to these problems and answered questions; a critical element of resolving these problems requires supplementary resources and public support.

“If you get funds into legal aid and get people who would otherwise represent themselves represented by lawyers," said Matthews, "their cases will move out of the justice system or will be resolved more quickly.”

Matthews has scheduled a number of speaking engagements throughout the province, and she expects that these problems will resonate with people. She would like support from lawyers and she would like to make changes to the current legal system as soon as possible.

The CBA is supporting the call for the judicial complement to be reinstated to the levels that existed in 2005. According to Matthews, B.C. is the only jurisdiction in Canada where the level of judges has been allowed to drop off from historic levels; most jurisdictions have actually increased the number of judges.

To stay updated or to find out more information, please visit the CBA website.

A glimpse at legal aid in the Kootenays

There are only three provincial court judges in the West Kootenay, and only one of them is full time. The other two judges have reached an age at which they have elected to be part time.

“It has become a substitute for judges,” said Matthews, “and a part-time judge just doesn’t fill the same role that a full-time judge can fill. We would like to see two more judges appointed in the West Kootenay.”