A senior B.C. judge says she is “very concerned” about the impact on the court system of a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling on bail review hearings.
In the ruling, Canada’s highest court emphasized that the pre-trial release of accused persons is the rule and detention the exception, and release from prison for those accused of crimes should be at the “earliest reasonable opportunity” and on the least onerous grounds. Being kept in prison results in a “significant” cost for an accused in terms of loss of liberty, the impact on their mental and physical well-being, and on their ability to defend themselves, the court noted. It also may result in a high number of guilty pleas by those kept in custody awaiting trial.
“That might seem simple enough, but it’s had huge consequences for our court in particular, and for, I understand, other courts in other provinces,” Holmes told Postmedia. Holmes said that Canada’s highest court went into detail about how the process is to work for the hearings and placed a lot of new responsibility on judges.
“We don’t know what proportion of that 70 to 150 a week will go ahead, but if it’s any significant portion, we’ll be needing a lot more judges,” said Holmes.
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