(Quebec) A group that claims to represent some 700 public prosecutors in Quebec denounces the lack of resources in the Nord-du-Québec region which creates, he says, a true justice of the bush.
Posted at 6:23 a.m.
The Association of Criminal and Penal Prosecution Prosecutors (APPCP) conducted a consultation with 27 out of 28 prosecutors from the offices of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) in Amos, Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or who also serve about twenty other communities through an itinerant court system.
The consultation reveals that in the judicial system, the majority of victims suffer from insufficient or even non-existent support, and that preparation for trials is compromised because prosecutors are overwhelmed and overwhelmed by the complexity and burden of the tasks assigned to them. entrusted.
The Association points out that the prosecutors working in Nord-du-Québec manage several hundred prosecutions a year and that the realities of the itinerant court require many trips. Prosecutors go back and forth on court days, without having the time to adequately prepare victims and witnesses beforehand.
Prosecutors also say they are overwhelmed by the complexity and heaviness of the cases; only one in three respondents claim to have the knowledge and level of autonomy necessary to accomplish their tasks.
The Nord-du-Québec offices are also struggling with a very high turnover rate, because there is great difficulty in retaining the workforce. The majority of prosecutors therefore have less than five years of experience.
The president of the Association of Criminal and Penal Prosecution Prosecutors, Guillaume Michaud, is calling for an adequate number of prosecutors and support staff to be added, that the frequency of the itinerant court be improved and that support for victims be improved, because, he says, the needs are enormous.
The Nord-du-Québec region includes the communities of the Hudson Bay, James Bay and Ungava Bay regions, as well as the Cree communities of the interior. The Regional Directorate of Judicial Services of Nord-du-Québec is located in Amos.