Delays in Manitoba courts spark more applications to dismiss

Manitoba courts are receiving more requests for cases to be tossed because of delays in the judicial process.

Data provided by the province show the number of motions that seek a stay of proceedings owing to delays has increased to 37 so far this year, up from 27 in all of 2023.

The motions are made when the Crown hasn’t met a set of strict timelines for the handling of criminal cases, which were set out in a landmark 2016 “Jordan ruling” by the Supreme Court of Canada.

It imposed an 18-month limit in provincial court and 30-month limit in higher courts, from the time the charge is laid to the actual or anticipated end of a trial.

In Canada, 409 court cases cases have been dropped since the start of 2023 because of delays, The Canadian Press reported this week.

Manitoba, during that time, has had an increase in requests for a stay of proceedings, or “delay motions,” the province reported.

“The number of motions filed by presumably the defence is much higher — 27 to 37 — and we still have a month and a half to go, which means more cases seem to be taking longer to go to trial,” said University of Winnipeg criminal justice Prof. Michael Weinrath.

The data provided by the province shows few of the applications for a stay of proceedings were approved by the court and some were dismissed. Nearly one-third were withdrawn by the defence.

“One way to look at it is that applications can be a strategy by defence counsel to put pressure on the Crown to plea bargain. So, it might be seen as at least somewhat effective and so perhaps more defence counsel are using this strategy this year,” said Weinrath, who wanted to see more data.

“Another way to look at the data is to simply consider the rise in the crime rate, including homicides, the last few years. There is a point where it is hard to move a lot of cases through expeditiously, particularly serious crimes like murder. So, the Crown might be closer to (the Supreme Court) deadlines than in the past, hence more applications.”

A provincial government spokesperson couldn’t say whether any of the cases thrown out involved violent criminal acts, but did say that very few cases are stayed compared to the total that are dealt with.

“The department closely monitors the time it takes to bring matters to trial and works proactively with justice system participants to dispose of matters as expeditiously as possible,” she said in a statement.

Defence lawyer Shimon Segal described a host of factors that contribute to court delays.

“Overall, you definitely have more complicated matters, there’s many more complicated rules” that can require more time and consideration, said Segal who has practised law for a decade.

Trials that used to take two days may now require four days or longer, for example. Preliminary hearings, which weigh the evidence before proceeding to trial, are often skipped to save time but can result in court cases wracked with delays, said Segal, a partner at Gindin Wiebe Segal Law.

“More people are coming forward with serious allegations than before,” said the lawyer, who handles sexual assault cases. At the same, the legal profession, like others, is losing some of its most experienced members to retirement and other pursuits.

“People have left the Crown’s office, have left private practice, have left the defence bar,” Segal said. “We certainly have fewer lawyers than five years ago.”

Although the system and court schedules are strained, he said he remains optimistic.

“There are good people on both sides of the aisle in this profession who are dedicated to making sure that cases that should be before the courts are before the courts, and that cases that could find ways to not be before the courts do not end up before the courts,” Segal said.

“If we keep our focus on that, that will be the path to our salvation here — not trying to figure out who’s to blame for what delay, or finding ways to continue to circumvent protected charter rights that are afforded to people who, if they lose, they could lose their liberty.”

The Supreme Court may be trying to hammer home that “justice delayed is justice denied” but too many Manitobans are in jail waiting for their cases to be heard, even though they’re supposedly innocent till proven guilty, said Weinrath.

“Manitoba still has high rates of remand,” he said.

Manitoba Justice figures for the first quarter of 2024 show that 75 per cent of those in custody are waiting for trial.

“Tracking remand percentages is another indicator of the timeliness of the criminal justice system,” its website says.

“The percentage of individuals in remand custody has exceeded the number of inmates serving sentences for the last number of years.”

Manitoba Justice says one of the department’s goals is to reduce the proportion of inmates in pre-trial custody.

“It is taking too long to get people’s cases dealt with,” said Weinrath.

“Adding more Crowns and judges is one idea but it would be better, to my mind, to have more resources for addiction and mental health supports. We need to do more to stop the revolving door.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

Source