When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in early 2020, the normal daily lives of everyone around the world were forced to halt. It impacted every aspect of life, from regular 9-5 working people to tv shows and movie productions. What was also impacted, and severely, was the court system.
When the pandemic first began, courts here in BC were forced to suspend regular court proceedings, and between March and July 2020, a number of cases had to be adjourned, until they were able to develop safety and cleaning protocols to make in-person hearings safe again.
Impact on Criminal Cases
The recently published semi-annual ‘Time to Trial’ report from the British Columbia Provincial Court, highlights the impact COVID-19 has had on trial delays, by comparing 2019 to 2021.
While in the report, it notes that the differences in results overall between the two years are not significant, there are specific areas where the delays have increased.
One of those areas was in criminal cases. They took a hard hit, largely in part due to adjournments of cases when the pandemic first began.
Within the report, it is also noted that there was a significant increase in active criminal cases. “An “active criminal case” is defined in the report as one that has not yet concluded and has a future appearance date scheduled.”
The number of active criminal cases has since returned to normal levels reflective of pre-pandemic statistics. However, the pandemic’s impact on these cases was significant and continues to be. Because even though the number of active cases has settled back to normal levels, the number of those cases older than 18 months still continues to increase.
This a major problem that needs to be addressed. In Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 11(b) specifically address a person’s right to be tried within a reasonable time. The Jordan decision from the Supreme Court of Canada set the timeframe for a trial in provincial court at 18 months. So having a majority of cases older than 18 months means that there are real risks that some charges may be stayed on the basis of delay.
While the pandemic is certainly a valid reason for why cases would be delayed, it is time for the Courts to start using novel measures to address this problem and come up with solutions. The pandemic’s impacts on cases currently in the system cannot be used as an ongoing justification for delay where shutdowns of courts are not regularly occurring or occurring for lengthy periods of time.