A new criminal justice report card found Alberta lacking in the areas of public safety, efficiency and fairness and access to justice.
Last Wednesday, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an Ottawa-based public policy think-tank, released its inaugural justice system report card.
The comparative study used Statistics Canada data to assess and rank each province and territory’s criminal justice system.
Though Alberta ranked sixth in country – after Quebec and all four Maritime provinces – and highest in the prairies with an overall grade of C+, it received low grades in the areas of public safety (C+) and efficiency (C+) and was ranked lowest in the country for fairness and access to justice (C).
The report indicates that access to justice in Alberta is “a cause for concern,” pointing to relatively low levels of criminal legal aid funding and a disproportionate level of aboriginal incarceration.
While the report identified a disproportionate number of aboriginal persons in custody in every jurisdiction, the problem was particularly acute in Alberta, Ontario, B.C. and the other prairie provinces.
In 2012, aboriginals made up 41.9 per cent of the prison population in Alberta.
Dan Laville, director of communications for Justice and Solicitor General, said the report card does not represent the “full picture” since it only had access to 2012 data.
“We are currently in the process of providing additional data to the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics,” he said.
The data should be publicly available in the coming months.
Laville blamed migration to a new offender management system for the delay in reporting.
Numbers sent to the Gazette show the average daily population of aboriginal inmates from April 2015 to April 2016 as 39 per cent for adults and 48 per cent for youth.
In terms of legal aid spending, the province ranked seventh in the country with an average expenditure of $140.42 per crime.
The province’s legal aid system has been in crisis for the last few years – with offices closing and costs of legal services increasing.
Since taking office the NDP increased funding to Legal Aid by $4.2 million. The total budget in 2016-17 is $68.5 million. The additional funding is not reflected in the report card.
Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley has also undertaken a review of the program, looking at the reasons for the rise in operational costs and whether current services can be improved, and increased the qualifying income threshold.
“As the government, we have a responsibility to provide a legal aid system that is effective and efficient and that meets the needs of Albertans, now and in the future,” said Ganley in a written statement.
The MacDonald-Laurier also identified problems with the efficiency of Alberta’s justice system.
Not only are the percentage of charges stayed or withdrawn high at 35.3 per cent, but the average criminal case length is greater than most of the country. An average case length in Alberta is 183.5 days – the fifth longest in the country.
St. Albert-Edmonton MP and Conservative Deputy Justice Critic Michael Cooper said there are likely many reasons why Alberta lags behind in efficiency, but a shortage of judges is surely not helping the situation.
Currently there are six vacancies at the Court of Queen’s Bench and two at the Court of Appeal.
“Alberta has seen significant growth over the past decade,” he explained, “as a result that has created an increased volume in the number of cases going through the judicial system. There has not been an increase to judges to match the increase of volume.”
Only two new positions have been appointed in the past 20 years. Alberta’s population has doubled in that time.
Ganley said she has spoken to her federal counterpart, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, several times about the urgent need for new appointments.
“She has assured me there are more appointments coming soon,” reads Ganley’s email.
