After nine months of having no permanent judge and delays for criminal, family and civil cases in Sechelt provincial court, the province has announced it will appoint a new judge.
Attorney General Mike de Jong announced last Friday (Sept. 24) that Prince Rupert lawyer Steven Merrick will be called to the bench in Sechelt beginning Oct. 12. Merrick replaces judge Ann Rounthwaite who retired in December last year. Since that time, the province has been sending judges to Sechelt two to three days a week, as opposed to Rounthwaite's approximately four days sitting, resulting in backlogs for all types of cases.
The announcement is being treated as a victory for virtually all in Sunshine Coast's local governments and legal community.
"I think it's very positive, without question," said Gibsons Coun. Wayne Rowe, who is also a practising lawyer.
Rowe led a campaign from the four local governments to press the Attorney General for a permanent sitting judge.
Rowe said Merrick has many of the qualities the local governments have been asking for in a new judge, including experience with coastal and First Nations communities as well as practice in criminal, family and civil law.
"It certainly looks like judge Merrick has got the background to deal with all those areas," Rowe said. "He's someone who is used to being on the Coast, so he can certainly relate to our circumstance here and our community. I'm looking forward to that. It should definitely shorten the waiting time for cases here in all divisions."
Those wait times, according to Crown counsel Trevor Cockfield, meant criminal trials were already being scheduled into July of 2011. When an accused is forced to wait much longer than that for a trial, courts may consider throwing the case out on the grounds of an unreasonable delay, he said.
"The wait times were starting to go up dramatically, and if we hadn't got a new judge, they would have increased even more," Cockfield said.
He added that it benefits the community at large to have one permanent judge.
"It provides consistency in the community in terms of having one judge. You know what you're going to get and that sends a good message out to the community, and I think it also protects the community," he said.
Sunshine Coast RCMP acting detachment commander Sgt. Russ Howard said the delays have been a point of frustration for police, and he praised the province's decision.
"One of our concerns with not having a permanently assigned judge was the length of time it was taking in some of our cases for the courts, which could have led to an unnecessary delay argument by the defence," he said "Everyone has the right to a fair and speedy trial, so it's much better to get it into the courts sooner rather than later."
Howard said having a judge who knows a community, especially its repeat offenders, will make for more appropriate sentences following guilty pleas and verdicts.
Rowe, along with Gibsons Mayor Barry Janyk, Sechelt Mayor Darren Inkster, Sunshine Coast Regional District vice-chair Garry Nohr and Sechelt Indian Band Chief Garry Feschuk travelled to Victoria in April to press de Jong for a judicial appointment. At the time, de Jong said he would have an announcement for the local governments by the end of May, but no announcement was made. The Sunshine Coast Women's Outreach Service and Community Based Victims' Services also wrote letters asking for a new judge.
Rowe said the delay was likely related to a lack of funding, but the "united front" from the Coast's local governments undoubtedly helped.
"When you've got all your local governments coming with the same message, it's hard to ignore. It's an example of where co-operation certainly helped," he said.
Merrick has been practising law in B.C. for 20 years and has been a member and chair of the Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal since 2004. As part of his duties in the coastal region, he will also serve in Pemberton and Powell River as needed.
