VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – The provincial government has announced it’s hiring nine new judges in an effort to relieve the backlog of cases in the court system.  The appointments will be made over the next seven weeks.

Two special projects will be launched as well.  The first one, to be launched early next year, will target the backlog of child-protection cases.  The second one, launched later in 2013, will target the backlog of cases in the criminal court system.

These appointments and projects follow recommendations made in a report by Geoffrey Cowper called ‘A Criminal Justice System for the 21st Century.’  It was released in August, following a review announced by Premier Christy Clark in February.

“The addition of nine new judges and the backlog reduction projects — and specifically the assignment of judicial resources to these projects — signal a shared understanding by all parties that changes need to be made to improve the justice system,” says Shirley Bond, Minister of Justice and Attorney General.  “These are important steps to justice reform and demonstrate that government is committed to following through on recommendations made by Geoffrey Cowper.”

“I want to acknowledge that the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice are working together to develop innovative methods to manage the courts and reduce backlogs so that the needs of British Columbians are addressed in a timely manner,” adds Minister Bond.

The new judges will bring the total to 132 in the provincial court system, but that is down from the 143 BC had at the end of 2005.