Ottawa introduces legislation aimed at making justice system more efficient

OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – A new bill from the Trudeau government has introduced sweeping reforms to our justice system, with the goal of dealing with the backlog in the courts and addressing perceived discrimination in jury selection.

The 100-page bill aims to deal with the serious delays in the system, which have led to many cases — some with serious charges — being thrown out.

To speed things up, the government is getting rid of preliminary hearings for non-serious offences, streamlining the bail process, and giving more tools to judges to manage their case flow.

Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary to justice, says it will make the courts more efficient.

“I think Canadians expect that justice will be done. But it has to be done in a timely way — that old adage of ‘Justice delayed is justice denied.”

“We want to make sure that people who are facing serious criminal charges have access to the justice system in a timely way so that they may have a fair trial. We also have a responsibility to the victims, too, to bring these matters forward as efficiently as possible,” he adds.

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The bill will also toughen bail conditions for those with a history of domestic abuse. It will change the jury selection process to make sure juries better reflect the population.

The latter move comes after accusations of systemic racism in the case around the death of Colton Boushie. Gerald Stanley was acquitted in the case; there were outcries after several Indigenous people were excused as potential jurors.

Conservative Justice Critic Rob Nicholson says the government needs to deal with the backlog in the courts quickly.

“It decreases people’s confidence in the criminal justice system if they see cases getting thrown out because the court system has been backed up. This is not good for anybody.”

Thanks to a Supreme Court decision in 2016, after charges are laid, trials need to begin within either 18 or 30 months — otherwise, the case is thrown out.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited to remove references to Jamie Bacon, as reasons for a stay of charges against him were sealed by the courts.

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