This sentiment comes not long after Newfoundland and Labrador’s Provincial Court announced that civil, traffic and Contraventions Act hearings at the St. John’s, Grand Falls-Windsor and Stephenville courts “will be adjourned indefinitely.”
According to the Nov. 28 notice, “parties will be contacted by the court regarding rescheduled dates.”
The shutdown would also include small claims court, given it falls under civil matters. According to an information web page, small claims court handles “most civil claims up to $25,000.”
The provincial court’s notice gives no reason for the adjournments, but lawyers who spoke with Law360 say it is due to a shortage of sheriff’s officers — those officials who work at the courthouses, gatekeeping the entry points, operating the X-ray machines and overseeing those entering.
Lawyer Lynn Moore spoke of the significance of the adjournments.
Lynn Moore, Morris Moore
Moore worries about what could be impacted next.
“What is next if it doesn’t improve? What comes next? Is it break and enters? Is it thefts? You need the courts to operate in a functioning democracy.”
For one, Moore said, the stoppage of traffic court potentially poses a “safety issue” on the province’s roadways. Some motorists, she said, may take advantage of the stoppage — and the delays it will inevitably cause.
“There is a segment of the public — the motoring public — that never registers their car; that never pays for insurance; that never gets their licence renewed, and those are the people who are going to say, ‘This is a free for all, [and] my traffic case is not going to be heard in time.’ … They are just going to treat the roads like the Wild West, and I think that increases the risk for everybody travelling on those roads.”
Moore also spoke of it impacting those attempting to access small claims court.
“Not being able to access justice for small claims matters, I think that’s pretty important, too. People’s whole livelihoods may be riding on the result of the small claims court. You know, people who are struggling, and that award that they were planning, that they thought they had a right to, that they just don’t have access to that anymore, I think that can have huge implications for people.”
Moore also said the issue should have been dealt with sooner — given there were signs of a problem brewing. She said it was “a few months ago” the court announced it was having to decrease the number of public entrances to the St. John’s courthouse due to the staff shortage.
“It should have been tackled long ago,” said Moore. “I don’t know all the inner machinations of the court — how they do budget proposals, what they tell the government what they need to run the show — but, you know, a few months ago, when they said they couldn’t keep two points of entry open, that should’ve been a very loud warning signal that things were going wrong.”
When asked for comment, a spokesperson with Newfoundland and Labrador Justice and Public Safety forwarded a recent statement issued by Justice and Public Safety Minister Helen Conway Ottenheimer.
In that Dec. 4 statement, Ottenheimer announced the formation of a “new working group” to examine the issues facing the provincial court. The working group, which will be made up of the provincial court’s chief judge, as well as lawyers and others from the justice community and government, is scheduled to meet “before the holidays,” as well as in the new year.
“Its core purpose will be to analyze the root causes of staffing shortages and systemic pressures within the provincial court system and brief the minister on actions necessary to address them by mid-February,” reads the statement.
When asked again for comment about the feeling that something should have been done sooner, the spokesperson sent a statement from the Department of Justice and Public Safety.
“A working group was formed building off a productive meeting with the chief judge and associate chief judge of the Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador,” it read. “The actions announced are a clear commitment by the provincial government to improve access to justice and to strengthen the Provincial Court system. The current challenges do not reflect the commitment of the judiciary and the dedicated professionals in Provincial Court.”
The statement goes on to acknowledge that “these issues did not develop overnight,” but noted that “there is nothing broken that cannot be fixed.”
A message left for Provincial Court director of court services Joanne Turner was not returned.
Canadian Bar Association Newfoundland & Labrador advocacy chair Joe Thorne spoke of the “wide-ranging” impact the adjournments will have.
“This is going to affect hundreds — and potentially, depending on how long this goes, thousands — of people with civil [matters], with small claims court matters,” said Thorne. “Ticketing offences becomes … an issue for people who want to get their matters tried in the ticketing court. It also becomes a budgetary issue for municipalities. The City of St. John’s already publicly, I think, announced this is going to cost them thousands and thousands of dollars in terms of municipal ticketing.”
As for the forming of a working group, Thorne expressed concern it will not provide a full — or quick — answer to an urgent and ongoing problem.
“If it’s a staffing issue that is keeping the courts closed right now, a committee, a working group, from the Department of Justice is not likely to have an immediate impact on that issue. That is a budgetary issue, which becomes a provincial government, provincial coffers issue, as opposed to a Department of Justice [issue]. Committees are excellent for long-term, structural, infrastructural changes and thinking — they’re not great for fixing immediate, triageable issues.”
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