The Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, and the Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec, Lucie Rondeau, found common ground on Friday on the reorganization of the work of judges.
This “will reduce judicial delays, for the benefit of victims and citizens, wrote on Twitter Mr. Jolin-Barrette. Their interests must come first. »
Fearing that the standoff between the Legault government and the management of the Court of Quebec would have repercussions on the population’s confidence in the justice system, the president of Quebec, Catherine Claveau, had called in December 2022 for “conciliation “.
And it is now done. After four months of negotiations under the supervision of former Court of Appeal judge Jacques Chamberland, the two parties have put water in their wine to reach a “compromise”.
Quebec will thus create and appoint 14 additional judges to the Court of Quebec.
For its part, the judiciary will increase its annual workload, by adding 17 sitting days for the judicial years from 2023 to 2025, and 6 days between September 1 and December 31, 2025.
Mr. Jolin-Barrette and Ms. Rondeau also agreed on efficiency objectives to be achieved by the end of 2025, to ensure “the proper functioning of the justice system”. The judiciary will, for example, have to close 87.7% of cases in 18 to 30 months.
A quarterly follow-up will be carried out, and the Ministère de la Justice will make sure to provide statistics on the progress of the cases.
On Friday evening, the Legal Services Commission, a government agency responsible for enforcing the Act respecting legal aid and the provision of certain other legal servicesrejoiced[e] of the conclusion of the agreement”.
“This agreement is beneficial for all litigants by reducing delays and thus facilitating better access to justice,” commented the President of the Commission, Me Daniel LaFrance, in a press release.
A long fight
The tensions between Quebec and Ms. Rondeau date back to December 2021, when she had notified the government that the judges were going, from September 2022, to sit one working day out of two, rather than two days out of three.
Its objective was to lighten their workload in order to maintain the quality of services to citizens. Among his arguments was the increasing complexity of trials over time.
Aware that this decision would increase the wait for the processing of cases, Judge Rondeau asked Quebec to appoint 41 additional judges.
Intransigent in the face of Lucie Rondeau’s decision, the government instead asked the Superior Court to suspend the Chief Justice’s approach, which the Court refused.
Not flinching, Simon Jolin-Barrette requested the Court of Appeal.
With Stephanie Marin