P.E.I. court system most efficient in Canada

P.E.I.'s court system has some delays, but those delays are nowhere near the delays experienced in other provinces, according to an interim report released Friday by the Canadian Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.

And as such, P.E.I. has set the standard as the most efficient court system in Canada, said Newfoundland and Labrador Senator George Baker.

Most efficient

Baker, the committee's vice-chair, explained it usually takesP.E.I. courts between five and seven months to have a criminal matter heard. At the other extreme isQuebec, where some matters have taken up to two years to simply get a trial date, he said.

Unreasonable delays

In other provinces, unreasonable delays have resulted in cases being thrown out of court, he said.

"You have examples like that on a daily basis right throughout Canada. Fortunately, the province of Prince Edward Island stands out in that it does not have these cases. And, it is simply because the judges and everybody in the courtroom, including the police [and lawyers], are ever conscious of this delay problem," he said.

Baker noted that the Supreme Court of Canada recently set timelines on how long cases should take. Cases in P.E.I. courts that do take a long time usually involve "exceptional circumstances," he said.

Moving forward, Baker said the committee will be taking a closer look at P.E.I.'s court system as an example of how delays should be handled for the final report in March.

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