VANCOUVER — Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson dodged a call Monday from the Canadian Bar Association demanding a review of federal legal-aid funding to ensure money for defence is keeping up with the pace of federal justice reforms.
Members of the association’s national council maintain federal tough-on-crime legislation will mean more trials and more jail time for more accused in an already strained justice system. The council passed a resolution over the weekend urging Ottawa for the review.
But Nicholson said his government has increased funding for legal aid.
“I know that over the years that I’ve been justice minister we’ve boosted the annual amount from $81 (million) to $111 million per year. There’s a total commitment of $560 million to the legal-aid system,” Nicholson told hundreds of lawyers attending the association’s conference.
“We’ve maintained our funding levels even in this time of restraint.”
And he defended his government’s justice reforms, saying the changes they’ve made help the victims of crime while targeting perpetrators.
“Ours has been a balanced approach with respect to these measures,” Nicholson said in response to questions from association members.
Dan MacRury, chairman of the council’s criminal justice section, said the Conservative reforms are increasing demand on a system that was already taxed.
“It’s clear that the new laws are going to put an increased demand on all the players in the criminal justice system,” said MacRury, who is the chief Crown Attorney for Cape Breton.
“There really does need to be a national review of the federal commitment to funding to ensure that it’s adequate to maintain fair trial rights for the accused.”
The funding that has gone into justice has gone to Crown prosecutions to equip police forces and to build more jails, MacRury said.
The Harper government has estimated that 18 of the measures included in its sweeping justice reforms would cost about $631 million in total.
A report by the parliamentary budget officer found that the changes in conditional sentencing provisions alone contained in Bill C-10, which eliminates conditional sentencing and house arrest for serious and violent crimes, would cost the federal government an additional $8 million.
It will cost the provincial and territorial governments an additional $137 million for prosecutions, court cases, incarceration and parole reviews, said the report.
Documents released in response to a Freedom of Information request to the British Columbia government show that two of the reforms would cost B.C. alone $31 million to house an additional 470 inmates.
Original Article
Source: the chronicle herald
Author: DENE MOORE
Members of the association’s national council maintain federal tough-on-crime legislation will mean more trials and more jail time for more accused in an already strained justice system. The council passed a resolution over the weekend urging Ottawa for the review.
But Nicholson said his government has increased funding for legal aid.
“I know that over the years that I’ve been justice minister we’ve boosted the annual amount from $81 (million) to $111 million per year. There’s a total commitment of $560 million to the legal-aid system,” Nicholson told hundreds of lawyers attending the association’s conference.
“We’ve maintained our funding levels even in this time of restraint.”
And he defended his government’s justice reforms, saying the changes they’ve made help the victims of crime while targeting perpetrators.
“Ours has been a balanced approach with respect to these measures,” Nicholson said in response to questions from association members.
Dan MacRury, chairman of the council’s criminal justice section, said the Conservative reforms are increasing demand on a system that was already taxed.
“It’s clear that the new laws are going to put an increased demand on all the players in the criminal justice system,” said MacRury, who is the chief Crown Attorney for Cape Breton.
“There really does need to be a national review of the federal commitment to funding to ensure that it’s adequate to maintain fair trial rights for the accused.”
The funding that has gone into justice has gone to Crown prosecutions to equip police forces and to build more jails, MacRury said.
The Harper government has estimated that 18 of the measures included in its sweeping justice reforms would cost about $631 million in total.
A report by the parliamentary budget officer found that the changes in conditional sentencing provisions alone contained in Bill C-10, which eliminates conditional sentencing and house arrest for serious and violent crimes, would cost the federal government an additional $8 million.
It will cost the provincial and territorial governments an additional $137 million for prosecutions, court cases, incarceration and parole reviews, said the report.
Documents released in response to a Freedom of Information request to the British Columbia government show that two of the reforms would cost B.C. alone $31 million to house an additional 470 inmates.
Original Article
Source: the chronicle herald
Author: DENE MOORE
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