Child protection cases to be sped up, helping vulnerable kids: Austin

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New Brunswick is making changes to resolve child protection cases faster and free up court rooms for other important family law cases, making life easier in a backlogged system.

Public Safety Minister Kris Austin announced the reform in the legislature on Friday, along with other measures to improve the court system, which is getting bogged down by a shortage of prosecutors, just when the Progressive Conservative government has introduced more “get tough on crime” measures.

Filling in for Attorney General Ted Flemming, Austin said the new child protection adjudication process would be modelled on a very successful program in Manitoba that’s less adversarial.

“We expect hearing officers to resolve more than half – and that’s key – more than half of all cases without a hearing before a judge,” the minister said. “This will better serve families and vulnerable children.”

Last fall, the backlog became so bad – with more than 100 cases – that Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare instructed other judges to prioritize child protection cases, even if it meant delaying other trials until March 2024. She also notified the province’s attorney general, the minister of social development, and the ministers of justice and public safety.

Those cases have since been cleared up.

Under questioning from Liberal justice critic Rob McKee during main estimates on Friday, Austin acknowledged that there was still an acute shortage of prosecutors, despite a recruitment drive.

Of 90 Crown prosecutor positions, only 68 are filled, with 22 vacancies. Since last year, the province has hired many new prosecutors, but has also lost almost as many. It has had a net increase of eight since April 2023.

Every public sector department, the private sector, everybody’s struggling with labour shortages and recruiting trained professionals.

Kris Austin

Austin said his Progressive Conservative government is struggling to fill positions in all fields, not just the courts, especially in health care.

“The reality is nurses are not just falling from the sky,” he said. “There’s aggressive competition out there among provinces, among states in North America looking for medical professionals. The same is true even in my Department of Public Safety among police officers.”

Austin blamed a labour shortage of trained professionals across Canada and the United States.

“It’s not unique to the Attorney General’s Office, it’s really right across the board. Every public sector department, the private sector, everybody’s struggling with labour shortages and recruiting trained professionals. But I know the attorney general is working hard to recruit as many new positions as possible because the money is there. We’ve funded those positions.”

Austin said legislation would be introduced soon to move to the new child protection model because the system is jammed.

“The objective here is to really follow Manitoba’s program, which has had exceptional results. They have reduced their child protection cases from going to court by 80 per cent, which is incredibly significant. Because if you can reduce those court cases before a judge by 80 per cent, that’s 80 per cent that can be used for other matters in relation to the justice system.”

The minister said the objective was to hit a 50-per-cent reduction in the next year or two and then over time to achieve Manitoba’s success. The province will hire four hearing officers to make it happen and “free up the logjam,” he said.

McKee said he’d wait to see the legislation next month before passing judgment.

The Liberal critic also asked about changes to Legal Aid. The minister had promised a reduction of a quarter of those cases going to trial, and the critic, who’s a lawyer, wondered if that meant more poor people who are accused of crimes will be coerced into making plea bargains.

Austin said the attorney general’s office was simply following the advice of the Legal Aid Commission, chaired by retired judge Irwin Lampert of Moncton.

“It’s trying to mitigate the backlog in a lot of these trials. So if they can reduce that by 25 per cent, by having those resolutions, then that’s 25 per cent more that they can put towards other matters in other trials.”

New Brunswick is also going to introduce special court workers to help Indigenous people navigate the justice system, where they are over-represented both as victims and accused criminals.

“First Nations in New Brunswick were pushing for some sort of navigation tool for Indigenous people going through the justice system,” Austin explained. “It’s a good program and it was spear-headed by First Nations. They’re still working through exactly what it will look like, but the Attorney General’s Office is working with First Nations to see how the program would be best suited for those that need it.”

– with files from Barbara Simpson