Skip to content

The ReeveLaw Blog

Criminal Defence Law Blog

DAVID AND GOLIATH AND LEGAL AID – Covid has tipped the balance even further and not in a good way.

Posted byDennis Reeve 7 August 20227 August 2022
https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion/the-alberta-government-is-ripping-apart-legal-aid/368785
Posted byDennis Reeve7 August 20227 August 2022Posted inUncategorized

Post navigation

Previous post Previous post:
GOOD GUYS WITH A GUN – Uvalde is not an isolated case. “An armed Oxford High School security guard failed to stop a mass shooting that killed four students and injured seven others, thinking the attack was a drill and that one student was wearing “really good makeup” as he bled to death.”
Next post Next post:
JAIL SENTENCE CREDIT – A sentence of incarceration is to be reduced by crediting 1) 1.5 to 1 for every day of pre-trial custody (to compensate for the loss of statutory remission) and may be reduced by 2) an undetermined credit for onerous and harsh jail conditions (Duncan credit) and 3) an undetermined credit for restrictive judicial release conditions (Downes credit). Of the remaining balance, statutory remission is granted after 2/3 is served.

Recent Posts

  • Credit also has to be given to JAMES LOCKYER for his tireless advocacy over many years to bring this to fruition.
  • Lawyers in England are refusing to represent some people because their legal aid system is insufficient to maintain a viable practice. The legal aid system in Ontario is similarly perpetually on the brink.
  • Since 1982 accused persons have had the right to a trial within a reasonable time. We’ve had the Askov, Morin and now the Jordan cases of the Supreme Court of Canada trying to ensure that right, with only limited success. So now the courts are stacking cases on top of other cases on their daily trial lists that have no possibility of being reached for trial on that date.
  • JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED – Every person charged with a criminal offence has the constitutional right to have their trial held within a reasonable time. Our Supreme Court has twice attempted to define what is reasonable through the cases of Askov and Jordan. The result has been decades of hundreds of cases being “stayed” from proceeding due to delay and further delays caused by the complex application procedures required to assert that right. Nothing has changed. Simply demanding that the trial process proceed expeditiously doesn’t work.
  • WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR BAIL SYSTEM? – The federal government enacts the criminal code. The province applies it. The province builds and owns the courts. The province hires the Judges, the Justices of the Peace, the Crown Attorneys and court staff.
The ReeveLaw Blog, Proudly powered by WordPress.