Shortage of judges continues to vex Nunavut courts

A shortage of judges has led the cancellation of two recent court circuits next month. (FILE PHOTO)

A shortage of federally-appointed Nunavut judges has forced the Nunavut Court of Justice to cancel two upcoming circuit court sittings.

These include a Feb. 15 superior court sitting for Igloolik and Hall Beach, which has been replaced by a justice of the peace sitting.

That’s according to a Jan. 12 news release issued by Nunavut’s office of the senior judge, Robert Kilpatrick.

Unlike a superior court judge, justices of the peace cannot preside over trials involving adults who face indictable or serious crimes, nor preside over sentence hearings for adults convicted of indictable offences.

A jury trial scheduled for Feb. 23 in Baker Lake has also been cancelled, “due to insufficient judicial resources,” Kilpatrick’s office said Jan. 20 in a statement.

“The [Nunavut Court of Justice] will likely be unable to meet all of its core commitments in 2016 without further judicial appointments,” Kilpatrick warned Dec. 21, 2015, during a swearing-in ceremony for Nunavut’s newest judge, Paul Bychok.

That would include cancellations of circuit court sittings, Kilpatrick added.

Meanwhile, adults facing sentencing hearings or serious criminal charges in Nunavut may have their matters delayed, which will cause hardships, Baffin’s lead criminal lawyer at Maliiganik Tukisiiniakvik told Nunatsiaq News.

“A person whose case adjourns has to continue following their release conditions, or stay in custody if they are detained. People in that situation should make sure they speak to the defence lawyers who will be in community for court,” Tamara Fairchild said.

The delays might also prompt defence lawyers to file applications to have charges stayed, Fairchild added.

“An accused person’s right to be tried within a reasonable time is so fundamentally important that a lack of resources can’t be used to justify unreasonably postponing trials,” Fairchild said.

So why is there such a shortage of Nunavut judges?

A Judicial Advisory Committee for Nunavut vets judicial candidates for the federal justice minister to appoint.

Véronique Jolie, who works for the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, said her office has received applications from a number of candidates.

And, her office is aware of the shortage of judges in Nunavut, she said.

Nunavut currently lacks one judge, and another seat behind the bench will become vacant in 2016 when Kilpatrick himself retires.

“That’s why we’re holding a meeting pretty soon, because of Nunavut’s vacancies. We do have a number of candidates [for Nunavut judges], but I can’t tell you how many,” Jolie said.

Jolie said her office receives applications, sends them to the Nunavut Judicial Advisory Committee, which vets the applicants before sending their recommendations back to Jolie’s office.

At that point, Jolie forwards the recommended applications to the office of Jody Wilson-Raybould, Canada’s justice minister.

Andrew Gowing, a media relations officer for Wilson-Raybould, declined an interview request by Nunatsiaq News saying, in an email, that “unfortunately, no one is available for a phone interview on this topic.”

When asked when someone could be made available, Gowing wrote that he would keep us “apprised of any developments related to this issue.”

Currently, Nunavut’s Judicial Advisory Committee lacks two representatives: one from the Government of Nunavut, and one from the Nunavut RCMP.

But the GN and the RCMP told Nunatsiaq News recently that they are waiting to hear from Wilson-Raybould’s office after recommending nominees for the committee.

Kilpatrick said Dec. 21 that Nunavut’s lack of judges is compounded by the territory’s plummeting number of deputy judges — supplementary judges historically used to ensure Nunavut’s judiciary can function.

Nearly half of Nunavut’s 92 deputy judges — judges from other Canadian jurisdictions appointed by the federal justice minister to help the Nunavut Court of Justice — have been lost to either retirement or health issues over the past several years, the senior judge said.