Law Times

Page 2 November 24, 2014 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com NEWS percentage of cases meeting the provincial benchmarks has some- what plateaued, there has been some success in achieving the strat- egy's ultimate goal of a more efficient and effective criminal justice system," he added. More than half of the sites where the Justice on Target program has been operating have improved the percentage of less complex cases completed within five appearances, according to Crawley. "Additionally, more than half of all sites have improved the per- centage of more complex cases completed within 240 days," he said. Criminal lawyer J.S. Vijaya tells Law Times that despite the un- derwhelming numbers, he sees some signs of the Justice on Target project in the courtroom. "The trial dates are being set much more quickly than they have been in the past," he says. And when it comes to court appearances where nothing used to happen, judges are put- ting pressure on both the Crown and the defence counsel to hurry up with disclosure and pleas, according to Vijaya. "The judge asks the Crown, 'What's going on?' So it's on track, a lot faster," he says. "Where things used to drag sometimes for months, it's no longer the case because there's an actual judge asking the tough questions of both defence counsel and also the Crown. If the defence is deliberately dragging their feet, the judge would simply say, 'Hey, you know what? You will get your video disclosure from the store but you can set it down for trial right now and in the meanwhile, set an interim date to make sure that you have the video by the trial date.'" At that interim date, usually a month before the scheduled trial, the parties would confirm whether the accused has received disclo- sure and still wants a trial or prefers to enter a guilty plea. Criminal lawyer Tanya Thompson says she, too, is seeing improve- ment on the timelines for disclosure. "I'm receiving disclosure on the first court appearance more often," says Thompson, a partner at Ru- sonik O'Connor Robbins Ross Gorham & Angelini LLP. The progress is a result of more than just judicial pressure, she adds. "I think there is real goodwill in the Ministry of the Attorney General in the Crown offices to improve that and I do see an improvement." While this is all great news, Vijaya is skeptical of the other side of the Justice on Target program, which he says is seeing more people entering guilty pleas too early in the criminal justice process. "People are pleading guilty because they are speaking to duty counsel and they're sort of fun- nelling them that way," says Vijaya. Overburdened duty counsel often do a quick assessment of the case and ask the accused if they'd like to plead guilty and accept a more favourable offer from the Crown, he notes. "The criminal justice system is not necessarily based on your moral guilt; it's a legal guilt or innocence. And a lot of people can't differentiate between that. If you're confessing to me that you shoplifted a candy bar, for a criminal lawyer the question is can the state prove it," he says. "When duty counsel appears, the Crown would say, 'Look, if he pleads guilty today, we'd give him some sort of discount,'" he adds. "That's not supposed to be the theoretical goal of the justice sys- tem," he says. The gains of the Justice on Target program are less visible on the bail side of things, according to Thompson. "I think there is still room to recognize a lot more time savings at the bail stage," she says, noting she's "cautiously optimistic" about the future of Justice on Target. The latest figures from the Justice on Target program come as the province launched its Better Justice Together effort aimed at making "the justice system simpler, faster, and less expensive for all Ontar- ians." In a speech last week, Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur said the new effort would focus on modernization and technology, diverting family matters out of court, streamlining processes, and supporting people with mental-health issues in the justice system. The focus, she said, would be on collaboration, including through an upcoming minister's roundtable. LT NEW EDITION 2014/2015 Lexpert® CCCA/ACCJE CORPORATE COUNSEL DIRECTORY AND YEARBOOK 13 TH EDITION ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! 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Price subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. 00222RY-A45596 Available risk-free for 30 days Order online: www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Continued from page 1 "From having worked in a hospital, there is no question that alternative and complementary therapy have a place but cannot and should not be treated in isolation," he says. "It seems to me in the circumstances of this case, when one is deal- ing with a minor, it is incumbent upon a court to consider the efficacy of such alternative treatments against others." The judge's reasoning about preserving aborig- inal culture "seems to me to be a political agenda that effectively ignores the best interest of the mi- nor and rolls back time to a historic prescientific era," says Belaiche. According to the ruling, the hospital's position was that initial testing on the child showed she had a 90- to 95-per-cent chance of survival with che- motherapy. The hospital also said it wasn't aware of any survivors of the disease without chemother- apy treatment. Bioethics lawyer Mark Handelman says the Consent and Capacity Board would have been in a better position to deal with this case. Handelman, a former vice chairman of the board, says he was "surprised that the case turned on the constitutional right of the girl's mother to make her own treatment decisions." Handelman doesn't believe the child needed protection because her mother didn't refuse to make a treatment decision but had instead made one the doctors didn't agree with. In this case, it would have been best to leave the issue to the Con- sent and Capacity Board, he suggests. Toronto family lawyer Donald Baker calls the decision "extraordinary." He compares the case to jurisprudence that has seen the children of Jeho- vah's Witness families ordered back into treatment when their parents disagreed. That the girl was of an aboriginal background in this case had "every- thing" to do with the court's decision, he says. "These are constitutional issues which really go back to the time of when this country was formed — who has what powers over which people. To ba- sically take this girl from that almost-guaranteed life-saving effort by the doctors and maybe kill her is really extraordinary. It's shocking to me, but I'm not aboriginal and my code rights are not being trampled on," he adds. LT Continued from page 1 'Political agenda' suspected Targets missed

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