It was an interesting endeavour to make the rounds through the Coastal legal community on an exploratory effort for this week's news feature.
It can be easy to forget just how vital the court system is to our lives, even when we're not navigating it personally. As one lawyer put it to me, "The court is there for people who can't solve their own problems."
But left, right and centre, we're seeing an illness creep into that system. It's not just a shortage of judges to try cases, but court staff in general. Nine new judges were recently appointed, yes, but according to Chief Justice Robert Bauman, full-time equivalent staff positions have dropped from 1,430 in 2008 to 1,217 in B.C. presently.
Between that time and this coming fiscal year, the Court Services' budget will have been slashed by 10 per cent unless changes are made. Fewer court clerks are available to maintain operation of the court room. Registry staff, sometimes used in place of the clerks, are stretched thin, adding delays to the processing of court orders and other documents.
Last spring there were 30 fewer sheriffs to protect witnesses and the accused.
The justice system is the third tier of our Canadian government, an indispensable pillar of our society, but it is also at the mercy of the executive and legislative branches to fund it properly.
There are also evolving concerns about the health of programs and services that support the system, such as legal aid and social workers.
Bauman has described it as a slow-motion impact, a gentle but worsening decline with dire consequences. Quiet and creeping as the degradation's been, it certainly seems that way.
"Without adequate resourcing, the court's traditional and essential role in maintaining societal order is being eroded and degraded," he said.
Perhaps there's hope on the horizon. Along with the nine recent judge appointments to be spread out across the province, Premier Christy Clark has announced her intention to reform the system.
Despite admitting on CKNW's Bill Good show that she didn't know where to start, the government has said the time to take action is now.
Attorney General Shirley Bond's powers have been shifted to "put her full focus on the reform agenda." She has appointed Quebecer Geoffrey Cowper to serve as the chair of a system review.
Cowper, who served on the commission into the death of Frank Paul, will undoubtedly become a familiar name across the province as he works to produce a green paper documenting these challenges espoused by all levels of the judicial system.
But it's a problem that seems to defy logic, in a way.
Fewer cases are being heard in the courts: last year, there were 13,000 less than in 2001. The crime rate is down to a new low, and over $1 billion of resources are making their way into the system annually.
Yet last year, judicial stays, due to delay, doubled - from 56 to 109 in this province.
In addition to Cowper's green paper, the province is looking at making court statistics more accessible, performing a legal aid services review and broadly examining the way prosecution decisions are made.
Will it be enough? Only time will tell. But, truthfully speaking, we are all customers of justice. So let's hope it is.
