A shortage of sheriffs to staff courtrooms and transport prisoners is creating delays and putting pressure on an already high-pressure situation, Victoria defence lawyers said Thursday.
On Monday, criminal lawyer Tom Bulmer was acting as duty counsel at the Victoria provincial courthouse, providing advice to 19 unrepresented people who had been arrested over the weekend.
“Being duty counsel is a very high-paced thing,” Bulmer said. “You have to be really efficient with your time and Monday was a very big day.”
He said the people in custody were coming from the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre and local police departments, and were expected to arrive at the courthouse by 9:30 a.m.
But two people didn’t arrive until about 10:30 a.m. The rest arrived just before noon, Bulmer said.
“I had to interview all of them and be prepared for court at 2 p.m. I had to subdivide them into bail hearings, consent releases and adjournments,” Bulmer said. “It puts a lot more pressure on an already high-pressure situation when there’s any delay in the in-custodies arriving.”
A number of those arrested had mental-health issues, which slowed down the process even more, he said. “The sheriffs appeared to be overtaxed because those people have issues.”
The defence lawyer was told the delay was caused by a shortage of sheriffs.
Criminal lawyer Kirk Karaszkiewicz said that on a number of occasions judicial case managers have tried to move some cases to another courtroom to get everyone into court before the end of the day.
“What’s happened is there’s no other courtroom because we don’t have enough sheriffs to open a courtroom,” Karaszkiewicz said.
“There’s no relief, there’s no safety valve and people get held over. People spend another night in jail and have to come back the next day.”
The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union has been raising concerns about “chronic staffing shortages” at courthouses.
“This is not just about difficult working conditions. Justice delayed is justice denied and we are seeing delays in courthouses all across the province,” said Lori Joaquin, BCGEU vice-president administrative services.
According to the union, the number of Victoria sheriffs has decreased from 35 to 24 in the past five or six years. About a year ago, the number of vehicles used to transport prisoners from Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre to the courthouse was reduced from two to one, said union spokesman Dean Purdy.
“Many trials are delayed and prisoners don’t get through the court until 2 p.m. A year or two ago, most were put through in the morning or early afternoon. The delays are now becoming par for the course. They don’t have enough deputy sheriffs to provide two vehicles to go out to VIRCC.”
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Johnston was forced to shut down a complex trial this week for want of a clerk.
“The province of British Columbia has failed in its constitutional obligation to properly fund the administration of justice,” said Johnston, who left a courtroom filled with seven lawyers, their support workers and a witness.
Johnston has not received an explanation for why no court clerk was available, said Bruce Cohen, a retired Supreme Court judge and communications officer for the superior courts.
An email from the Ministry of Justice said one staff member called in sick and two employees had to look after sick children.
The email said there is no sheriff shortage. “Court services staff work hard to schedule sheriffs and court clerks to support the judiciary and are doing everything they can go ensure access to justice is served,” it said.
The ministry statement contradicts Bulmer. It said people held at Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre arrived at the law courts at 9:30 a.m. and those in police custody were in sheriffs’ cells by 11:15 a.m.
No one spent extra time in jail as a result of the incidents reported over the last few days, it said.
