(Quebec) Simon Jolin-Barrette opens the door to a new salary increase for courthouse staff to stem the labor crisis that is shaking the judicial system. The opposition urges Quebec to act and denounces an “embarrassing” and “unprecedented” crisis.
The Press reported on Tuesday that no less than ten courtrooms in the criminal chamber were closed on Monday for lack of a court clerk forcing the postponement of very serious cases, such as child pornography, fentanyl trafficking and domestic violence.
An unacceptable situation, lamented Thursday the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette. Unlike the day before, all rooms were able to open on Tuesday at the Montreal courthouse. Still, Quebec still has work to do to be more attractive, admits the minister.
“If we talk about judicial resources, in particular clerks and judicial assistants, we are already at work. We signed the collective agreement last spring, we added a 10% bonus, that’s not enough,” said Minister Jolin-Barrette.
He added that discussions are underway with the Treasury Board to improve the salaries of courthouse staff. His department is also studying the possibility of using resources outside Montreal, clerks in particular, who could contribute by videoconference.
“It’s an unprecedented crisis,” lamented Liberal André A. Morin, who is the former chief federal prosecutor of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada for the Quebec region. “I have been practicing law for 37 years, I have pleaded before all the courts in Quebec and to see so many closed courtrooms […] it is unheard of,” he said on Tuesday.
Mr. Morin demands that the Legault government quickly increase staff salaries to be “more competitive” and attractive. “It is not normal that a court clerk, for example, in the Quebec government earns less than the person who does the same job at the Montreal Municipal Court”, he illustrated in a press briefing.
The Barreau du Québec is also asking the Legault government to double the annual budget allocated to justice.
On this subject, Minister Jolin-Barrette replies that since the arrival of the government of the Coalition avenir Québec “the justice budget has increased by 20%”. He ensures in the same breath that he has done “like all [ses] fellow ministers” representations to the Minister of Finance.
Minister Eric Girard is due to present an economic update on December 8.
The parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, hopes on this subject that Simon Jolin-Barrette already has “an appointment” with the Minister of Finance.
“The government has an opportunity to put resources back into the system to hire people, then not just judges, all the people the justice system needs to work well within reasonable timeframes,” argued Ms. Nadeau-Dubois, Tuesday.
The Minister of Justice pleads that the money must be “used efficiently” and that we must “change the ways of doing things” in the courthouses. “We can’t always just add resources,” he said, a spade directed at the chief judge of the Court of Quebec, Lucie Rondeau.
Judge Rondeau is calling for the appointment of 41 judges to compensate for the effects of her controversial reform, which provides that judges now sit every other day. Mr. Jolin-Barrette is “open” to adding judges provided that the judges add time in the room.
François Legault said in an interview with TVA on Monday that judges disagree with the chief justice’s reform while hoping that peer pressure will make her back down. The Prime Minister indicated that the magistrates he knows are “embarrassed by the situation”.
Simon Jolin-Barrette did not want to comment on Mr. Legault’s remarks, assuring that he takes “all the steps that are [sa] carried as minister” to break the deadlock.
According to the Liberals, the Minister of Justice “can go a long way” regarding the magistrate’s request to appoint 41 judges. For the solidarity leader, what is currently “embarrassing” is that “in a society as rich as Quebec, access to justice, which is a right, not a luxury, is endangered because it lack of resources in the justice system”.
With Tommy Chouinard and Louis-Samuel Perron, The Press