Law Times

PAGE 2 MARCH 10, 2014 • LAW TIMES www.lawtimesnews.com NEWS Province urged to boost support to Crowns in crisis he Ministry of the At- torney General should cover the cost of men- tal-health treatment for Crown attorneys whose condition was due to work-related stress, ac- cording to former Crown counsel. As prosecutions get more complex with more voluminous evidence to si through than ever before, Ontario's Crown attor- neys are under increased stress, according to lawyers who've now made the switch from prosecu- tion to defence work. "Situations arise where emergency treat- ment is needed, and if it's not cov- ered, it should be," says Anthony Mou stacalis, a former Crown and now president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association. e comments follow news that the former president of the Ontario Crown Attorneys' Asso- ciation resigned over his contro- versial payment of rehabilitation costs for an assistant Crown attor- ney using the organization's credit card. According to documents ob- tained by Law Times, Scott Rog- ers paid $20,000 to a medical facility for the care of an associa- tion member who showed vis- ible signs of alcoholism, including "troubling behaviour in the work environment," and disappeared for three days. e assistan t Crown attorney — who was "in the danger zone," according to the documents — had participated in a contested bail hearing in which the accused got out of jail and murdered someone, the documents show. In his resignation letter, Rogers said he was wrong for not discuss- ing the issue with the board but didn't apologize for the payment itself. "Regarding the expenditure of association funds on urgently required medical treatment, I be- lieve I made the correct decision," he wrote in a letter to members. "But I improperly deprived the board of the opportunity to make that decision. It was the board's decision to make, not mine." He continued: "Given what we are called upon to do every day, such emergency circumstances are not going away. ere is a mas- sive, untenable gap here in our benefi ts coverage." During the October 2013 board meeting, Rogers told his colleagues he didn't go to them at the time for confi dentiality rea- sons. He also said he believed the ministry should cover the costs because "it was a workplace issue and the government's moral re- sponsibility." e minutes of a board of di- rectors meeting suggests Rogers had considered "what happened" to another Crown attorney who died in the middle of a high-pro- fi le inquest. For Crown attorneys, whose job has always involved dealing with diffi cult and tragic cases, the work has become tougher with the increased use of scientifi c and wiretap evidence. " e fact of it is that you see an increase in the amount of evidence. It puts a lot of stress on the Crown system and the defence side as well," says Moustacalis. Unless an existing health-care benefi ts package covers it, Mous- tacalis agrees the government should take care of costs associat- ed with mental-health treatment for Crowns. According to the minutes of the meeting the association's board of directors held on the rehabilitation matter, Rogers sug- gested the government had pre- viously helped cover a Crown's treatment. But the ministry declined to say whether it had in fact done so. "With respect to treatment for mental-health issues, the minis- try does not comment on matters pertaining to individual employ- ees," said ministry spokesman Brendan Crawley. But Crawley said the minis- try takes mental illness seriously. " e ministry is committed to the health and well-being of Crown attorneys and all employees, and provides a range of benefi ts, pro- grams, and services intended to maintain their health and well- ness, including their mental health," he said. "Wellness has been a recurring theme and topic of formal discus- sion at annual continuing profes- sional development conferences for all Crowns across the prov- ince," Crawley added. According to Moustacalis, the issue of mental illness among Crown attorneys came into focus in the 1980s a er a senior pros- ecutor, Frank Hoff man, commit- ted suicide. " at incident brought the is- sue of mental health of employees to the fore," says Moustacalis. Other former Crowns agree the work can be stressful. Before he became a criminal defence lawyer, Calvin Barry worked 70 hours a week as a prosecutor. Be- fore he le the Crown attorney's offi ce in 2004, he also served as the treasurer of the association. In terms of mental-health re- sources, "there wasn't a heck of a lot" at the time, he says. To cope with the stress of prosecuting murders, he used to run. "You just had to try to cope. ere were periods when people were getting burnt out. It's some- thing that the government proba- bly has to have a look at: what they can do to make sure that there is no burnout and people are able to cope with issues that occur when you're doing that kind of high- stress, high-tension work," he says. Rogers declined to speak to Law Times, as did Scott Childs, the current president of the asso- ciation. Childs did say, however, that the $20,000 has now been re- paid in full but didn't indicate by whom. e documents Law Times obtained indicate Rogers paid $10,000. LT NEW PUBLICATION POWERS OF ATTORNEY AND CAPACITY: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE M. JASMINE SWEATMAN WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BOB AARON, RACHEL BLUMENFELD AND MARSHALL SWADRON Despite their great value, Powers of Attorney to manage the affairs of incapable persons always have the potential for financial abuse. 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