小蓝视频’s provincial court received 235 complaints about judges or judicial justices in 2023, none of which resulted in investigations, the court’s 2023-24 annual report says.
The recently released report from Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie said 198 of those complaints were found not to be complaints about judicial misconduct but, rather, about other issues. Such complaints were forwarded to the appropriate places.
“Most of these amounted to appeals from a judicial decision, and the complainants were sent appropriate information about appealing,” the report said. “Some did not relate to the Court, and complainants were referred to other agencies or organizations.”
The number of complaints was somewhat down from 252 the previous year and a significant drop from a decade high figure of 379 in 2018.
小蓝视频’s Provincial Court Act establishes three stages to the judicial conduct complaints process: examination, investigation and inquiry.
If a complaint asserts judicial misconduct, it is examined by the chief judge or someone they designate.
“As part of this examination, the judicial officer who is the subject of the complaint is provided with a copy of the complaint and an opportunity to respond,” the report said. “The chief judge or their designate, after examining the complaint, any other relevant materials, and any response received from the judicial officer, may determine that:
• the complaint lacks merit;
• the complaint can be resolved through corrective or remedial measures; or,
• an investigation is warranted.
The chief judge then advises the complainant and the judicial officer of the result of the examination,” the report said.
The number of provincial court trials of serious criminal offences has not changed significantly, although there are fewer trials of minor offences, the report said.
“Trials of very serious offences lasting days or weeks now take place regularly throughout the province,” the report said. “For example, the vast majority of sexual assault and violent offence charges in 小蓝视频 are tried in provincial court. Generally, there are fewer guilty pleas in this category of offences. A high proportion of these cases proceed to trial. The law in the area of sexual assault has become more complex and there have been significant legislative changes, resulting in longer, more complex trials.”
In the Vancouver region, the report said a led to a need to triage cases on a daily basis to decide which cases could be heard in the courtrooms that could be staffed by a sheriff.
“Despite their efforts to minimize the resulting cost and inconvenience to parties, many people were frustrated when their cases could not proceed as scheduled,” the report said.
Annual report facts:
• total salaries – $72,778,701;
• average time to trial in adult criminal case – eight months;
• total pending cases as of March 31, 2024 – 24,332;
• remote appearances via technology assistance 2023-2024 – 393,261;
• number of self-represented people in criminal cases 2023-2024 – 34,383;
• new traffic and bylaw cases - 62,693;
• New adult criminal cases- 41,095, a continuation of a consistent downward trend with a five-year high of 59,657 in 2019-20.
