The shortage of manpower in the courts is a “catastrophe” which risks leading to a breakdown in service if the government does not act quickly, warns the chief judge of the Superior Court of Quebec.
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“We are living through a crisis, a disaster. For the moment, we are succeeding in plugging the holes, but at some point, we will no longer be able to work miracles, ”launched Chief Judge Jacques Fournier in an interview with Le Log.
For more than two years, the magistrate has been challenging the government regarding the lack of court support staff, in particular clerks and assistants, who are crucial to the proper functioning of justice. But, despite all his efforts to raise awareness, the situation only got worse.
Thus, almost every day, courtrooms open late or remain closed for lack of court clerks.
Just last week, a fraudster went home rather than go to jail. The following day, an 87-year-old senior victim of a violent robbery was unable to testify at the trial of a defendant due to staff shortages. So she went home, not knowing when she should return.
“It is dramatic for the litigants, deplores the magistrate. Waiting for a life-changing decision causes anxiety. »
Not attractive
No need to look far for the reasons for the lack of staff. With a maximum salary of $45,000 per year, Quebec is struggling to recruit clerks who are paid $20,000 more at the municipal level, and even more at the federal or private level.
“The clerks are at the center of a stressful activity, it’s not easy,” insists the chief judge.
The judges’ assistants, who have specialized skills, also leave for positions where the remuneration is more advantageous.
Role masters, who are a bit like the nervous system of the system, can sometimes leave their jobs after only a few months, before they have even developed their expertise.
“It takes people who have good training, but they don’t come,” laments the chief judge. And as soon as there is a competition in the City [où les conditions sont meilleures], they leave. With housing problems in Montreal, not many assistants can afford rent in the metropolis. »
no choice to pay
The recipe for overcoming the problem is not complicated, however, he says. What it takes is for the government to offer better salaries to all the shadow personnel who run the justice system.
“The Treasury Board must recognize this,” he said, recalling that the government has an obligation to support the judiciary. Employees need to feel valued, and one way to do that is by paying them decently. »
Thus, if the government does not start offering at least decent salaries to support staff, the crisis will continue, until it reaches the breaking point.
“The ball is in the Treasury Board’s court,” he concludes, warning that in two years, it will be too late.
“Untenable”, warns the Court of Quebec
No action by the government to resolve the crisis of the lack of personnel at the court has worked, affirms the chief judge of the Court of Quebec, warning that the current situation is “untenable”.
“We know that to date, no initiative has made it possible to counter the large number of departures of assistants and to alleviate the problems of recruitment”, we read in a letter from Chief Judge Lucie Rondeau dating from the end of March and obtained by our Bureau of Investigation.
Like her counterpart in the Superior Court of Quebec, she says that one of the solutions is to offer employees “adequate compensation” that corresponds to the “many responsibilities they assume”.
However, even if the courts were assured that their observations had been presented to the Treasury Board, nothing was done.
“The Chief Justices have learned that the new salary conditions for judicial assistants will be known later, as part of the signing of the next collective agreement for the Public Service Union,” she explains, saying that it This was a disappointment, given the urgency of the situation.
Special constables too
If the shortage of manpower in the courts jeopardizes the justice system, the same goes for security in the palaces with a crying lack of special constables. These are armed officers who provide security in the palaces after training at the National Police School of Quebec.
“Every week, the union learns of the departure of members,” laments the president of their union entity, Franck Perales.
The situation is so serious that in some regional courthouses, there are sometimes not even any left, so that court personnel find themselves without protection despite the presence of criminals.
In their absence, it has even happened that a judge has asked an accused to go to prison by himself, after having received a sentence.
And just like for the support staff of the judiciary, the issue is above all monetary, since the Ministry of Public Security remunerates them well below what the police forces offer.
– With Kathryne Lamontagne
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com