Ottawa to get 2 judges, bail reforms as province tries to speed up legal system

Ottawa will be getting two new judges, a Crown attorney embedded within the Ottawa Police Serviceand up to 20 "bail beds" in 2017 as part of a plan to improve and expeditethe delivery of justice in eastern Ontario.

The new measures wereannounced Wednesday morning by Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi at a press conference at Ottawa police headquarters. It's the local portion ofOntario-wide plans announced in December 2016.

The hirings and changescome six months after the Supreme Court of Canada set strict deadlines for how long it could take cases to come to trialin a ruling that's come to be known as the Jordan decision.

• Supreme Court sets new deadlines for completing trials
• Judge shortage forcing Ottawa courts to prioritize criminal trials over civil cases

"The Jordan decision really changes the way we have to do things," Naqvi said Wednesday. "The alarm they sounded was very loud and clear. And that's why we're taking action immediately."

The Ontario Crown Attorneys Association has estimated that last summer'sruling could eventually lead toabout 6,000 criminal casesbeing stayed or withdrawn.

Since that decision,Ottawa judges have stayed or withdrawn charges in at least two cases due to court delays in one instance, settingfree aman accused of murder.

Earlier Wednesday, Ottawa lawyer Joshua Clarke told CBC News he was preparing his legal arguments for why the case of a Barrhaven teen accused of calling in at least 30 fake emergencies to police forces across Canada should be thrown out.

The teenwas arrested in 2014 when he was 16 years old,and still hasn't received a decision in his case.

Bail changes on the way

Naqvi said that to reduce the backlog of cases in eastern Ontario, the province will also:

• Assignone newCrown attorney to the Ottawa courthouse whose job will be specifically to review cases as to whether theycould be eligible for bail.
• Hire a duty counsel, also assigned to the local courthouse, who will serve as a "bail co-ordinator" and help expedite the entire bail process.
• Assign a lawyerto the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre who willoffer prisoners legal advice, facilitate applications for legal aid certificatesand prepare them for bail hearings.
• Expand the John Howard Society's bail verification andsupervision programto the courthouses in Perth, Pembroke and L'Orignal, while also offering enhanced services in Ottawa on weekends and statutory holidays.
• Add up to 20 new "bail beds" that will give low-risk offenders a place to stay in the community while awaiting trial.

The Ontario-wide reformswill cost more than $25 million per year, with the province still determining some of the precise local costs, a ministry spokesperson told CBC News.

Thereforms are a "game changer" for correctional services in eastern Ontario, particularly the bail bed initiative, said Tyler Fainstat,executive director of the John Howard Society of Ottawa.

Providing low-risk offenders with a safe, supervised home while out on bail will ensure those who need help with addictions or mental health issues will get support, said Fainstat all at "a fraction" of the cost of keeping them incarcerated.

"The greatest barrier to getting out on bail is housing,"Fainstatsaid."And rightly so. This is what the court wants to know: where is this person going to reside, and will we be able tofind them when we need to find them?"

13 judges being appointed in Ontario

The two new provincial judges are among 13 tobe appointed across Ontario, in addition to the hiring of32 more assistant Crown attorneys, 16 duty counsel and 26 court staff province-wide.

As for the Crown attorney embedded within the Ottawa Police Service, their role will be to offer advice to police on bail matters, Naqvi said,and work to find alternatives to criminal charges for low-risk, vulnerable offenders.

Anne London-Weinstein, a defence lawyer andpresident of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa, said it was unlikely that new position would lead to an "inappropriate relationship" between the Crown and police.

"Whoever they're going to appoint to that position is going to be a senior person who's going to work in a professional capacity," said London-Weinstein.

"So I think it may help in terms of reinforcing that idea you can exercise discretion, make a decision, and release somebody with the appropriate conditions ... without sending them down to bail court."

Overall, London-Weinstein said she heartily agreed with the new measures, many of which should be implemented by mid-2017.

"All of them make me uncharacteristically jubilant and optimistic which for a criminal defence lawyer, in our system, is relatively rare."