A new bill that seeks to curb delays in the justice system and rein in stays of proceedings will be conferring new powers to the justices of the peace by allowing them to oversee criminal court appearances and bail hearings, a development that has received lukewarm praise by Quebec’s main legal actors who were longing for more monies into the system.
The Quebec Judicial Council and the Quebec Justice Minister still do not see eye-to-eye.
A comprehensive legislative reform of the municipal court system recently introduced by the Quebec government has drawn mixed reactions, with the legal community applauding the initiative but equally concerned that it may undermine judicial and institutional independence of municipal courts.
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal from a slew of media organizations challenging confidentiality orders issued in a secret criminal trial, with no paper trail, that was held in Quebec.
The Quebec government, after scant debate and without the input or testimony of several major legal actors, has forged ahead in spite of forceful opposition by lawyers’ organizations with a controversial and divisive bill that will allow notaries to be appointed to the bench of provincial courts.
Barely a couple of weeks after a special mediator was appointed to settle a fall-out between the Court of Quebec Chief Justice and the Quebec Justice Minister, the minister openly questioned the integrity of the Quebec Judicial Council.
In an unprecedented move in recent history, a former Quebec Appeal Court justice was appointed as a mediator to resolve a dispute between the provincial Minister of Justice and the Court of Quebec Chief Justice over new judicial appointments and new work schedules for provincial court judges, a development viewed as regretful but necessary by legal observers.
An access to justice bill that will make free mediation mandatory and arbitration automatic for cases under $5,000 took the Quebec legal community by surprise as it also unexpectedly opens the door for notaries to be appointed to the bench of provincial courts.
The chief justices of four courts broadly outlined their priorities and concerns at the Quebec’s opening of the courts ceremony, from the promise and pitfalls of technology to modernize the justice system to the debilitating impact of chronic underfinancing to the erosion of decorum in the courtroom and the pernicious effects of disparaging social media comments.
After seven years at the helm of Quebec Superior Court, the last two particularly challenging and exhausting, Justice Jacques Fournier has stepped aside
The Quebec justice system, in crisis following an acute shortage of court personnel and strained labour relations that has led to walkouts and strikes, may face even more serious judicial delays if the Court of Quebec follows through with plans to have judges of the Criminal Division sit every second day as of this fall.