DOUG FORD was warned but he did not listen.

‘Tip of the iceberg’: Impaired driving case collapses over chronic staff shortages at new Toronto courthouse

Many court staff “simply cannot afford to work downtown,” the union says. 

By Jacques Gallant Courts and Justice Reporter

new toronto courthouse
“We can expect delayed justice for victims of crime and other serious criminal cases to be tossed if the government can’t immediately resolve the staffing issue,” said Daniel Brown, president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association.Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star

An impaired driving case has become one of the first criminal matters to be tossed due to delay caused by the chronic lack of staff at the new Toronto courthouse, with one advocate warning the case is the “tip of the iceberg.”

In staying the charges, Ontario Court Justice David Porter delivered a blistering assessment of the current state of affairs at the $956-million courthouse on Armoury Street, which has been suffering from a lack of staff since it opened in March.

OPSEU/SEFPO, along with several other unions, spent years warning the Ministry of the Attorney General that closing courthouses in Scarborough, Etobicoke, and North York and consolidating justice services at the New Toronto Courthouse (NTC) in the downtown core would cause hardship for staff and access to justice issues for many marginalized people involved in the justice system who live far from Toronto’s downtown. The Ford government went ahead anyhow, and those predictions have come to fruition.

WE CAN’T GO BACK – It took a crisis to get here. “Presumptively remote court hearings a ‘win-win for everybody.”

https://www.lawtimesnews.com/news/features/presumptively-remote-court-hearings-a-win-win-for-everybody-says-family-lawyer-russell-alexander/379317?hsmemberId={{contact.hs_object_id}}&utm_source=GA&e=ZGpyZWV2ZUBiZWxsbmV0LmNh&utm_medium=20230905&utm_campaign=LTW-Newsletter-20230905&utm_content=60340243-7A36-40AE-831C-5923AFD1310D&tu=60340243-7A36-40AE-831C-5923AFD1310D

WILL A CRIMINAL RECORD PREVENT ME FROM GAINING EMPLOYMENT? – ““The only time a criminal record should play a role in disqualifying an employee from a job application is where the type of crime is directly and rationally connected to employment,” says MacLellan. “A person convicted of defrauding the elderly should not be hired into a retirement home. A person convicted of selling opioids should not be hired into a pharmacy.”

https://www.hcamag.com/ca/specialization/employment-law/can-i-ask-an-employee-about-their-criminal-history/458183

IN CANADA, THE POLICE CANNOT DISPARAGE THE DEFENCE LAWYER TO THEIR CLIENT – A recent Ontario drug trafficking case has collapsed after a judge found a police officer acted improperly by repeatedly disparaging defence counsel as a “gangster lawyer” who charged “crazy” fees. “To suggest that any lawyer is a ‘gangster lawyer’ is an attack not just on that lawyer but potentially all criminal defence lawyers — and that is simply wrong,” Justice Mark Edwards, the Senior Regional Judge for the Central East Region, wrote in his reasons for staying an alleged drug trafficker’s charges. Nor did the lawyer do anything to warrant the label “gangster lawyer,” he continued.

https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/news/ontario/ontario-drug-case-collapses-after-police-call-defence-counsel-a-gangster-lawyer/article_a22a402e-28f5-500e-b5d8-a6b15f06399e.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=politics