QUEBEC — Quebec’s justice minister is being stripped of one of her “core files” and placed “under tutorship,” argued Parti Québécois justice critic Véronique Hivon.
Up until now, Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée had been working on reducing court delays in Quebec.
She introduced and passed Bill 125 in December increasing the number of judges in Quebec courts. The law boosted the number of magistrates in the Court of Appeal from 20 to 22, the Superior Court from 152 to 157, and the Court of Quebec from 290 to 306.
Vallée also said 69 new prosecutors would be hired at the Director of criminal and penal prosecutions (DPCP) by June 30, 2017, and three new courtrooms would open in Montreal.
Vallée was under intense pressure to act on court delays ever since three Quebec judges called for more funds to be injected in the system and the Supreme Court of Canada set out new deadlines last July for criminal cases to go to trial — 30 months in Superior Court and 18 months in provincial court.
More than 200 “Jordan applications” have been filed in Quebec courts asking judges to stay criminal proceedings because an accused has waited longer than the prescribed 18 or 30 months for their day in court.
But on Wednesday, the Journal de Québec reported that civil servant Denis Marsolais has taken over from Vallée, and will be responsible for implementing the changes as well as drumming up new ideas.
“It’s clearly a form of tutorship, clearly an act of disavowal, the premier is disavowing his minister of justice, and it’s really a great concern,” Hivon told reporters.
“It’s a very worrying signal that she is being given by the premier … it’s at the core of her responsibilities of the attorney general to make sure that the system of justice works properly.
“If she has too much on her plate, well I don’t think it’s the core that justice is all about that should be withdrawn from her,” Hivon said.
cplante@postmedia.com
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