Highlights of the Year

The past year was one of revitalization for the Ministry of Attorney General. During this time the ministry strengthened its reform efforts in order to bring innovation and improvements to all parts of the justice system. Our commitment to provide strong leadership in furthering justice system reform and innovation is reflected in many of the accomplishments noted below.

Ongoing Justice System Reform Initiatives

• Continued to fund and participate in the Justice Review Task Force (JRTF)¹ in order to identify a wide range of possible reforms to make the justice system more responsive, accessible and cost-effective.
• The Family Justice Reform Working Group continued to develop recommendations for the design of a family justice system that is more accessible, effective and oriented to the needs of children and families.
• The Street Crime Working Group continued to focus on the root causes of street crime,² particularly with regard to repeat offenders who may be suffering from addiction, other social problems or mental illness. After consulting with the public and stakeholders, the working group developed recommendations for new justice system responses to street crime in Vancouver. The JRTF will release these recommendations to the public in June 2005.
• The Civil Justice Reform Working Group was established to identify reforms to make the civil justice system easier to understand, cheaper to use, and more accessible to all British Columbians.
• The Mega Trials Working Group was established to develop recommendations for managing large criminal cases in British Columbia.
• Led and served on national justice reform committees including the Heads of Prosecution, which comprises all Canadian prosecution services.

Electoral Reform

• Enacted the following referendum question recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform to be included on the May 17, 2005, ballot as part of the provincial election:
   
  Should British Columbia change to the BC-STV electoral system as recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform?

• Established the Referendum Information Office to provide information and help British Columbians make an informed choice about the BC-STV electoral system recommended by the Citizens' Assembly in its final report of December 2004.

Criminal Justice System Reform

• Received a finalist designation in the 2004 Premier's Awards for outstanding innovation in mega case prosecution and management techniques. Mega cases³ are highly complicated criminal cases involving large numbers of victims and witnesses, unprecedented security risks, massive amounts of evidence and immense legal complexities.
• In partnership with the Provincial Court judiciary, decreased backlog at the Main Street courthouse in Vancouver by nearly half.
• Expanded traffic reforms to increase administrative efficiency and to hold traffic offenders more accountable.
• Streamlined the process for disputing traffic tickets by introducing teleconferencing, certificates of evidence and hearings in writing. These reforms provide more convenient services to the public and police and help reduce court backlog.
• Provided a new discount incentive to encourage prompt payment of traffic tickets.
• Signed an agreement under the federal Contraventions Act that will enable provincial officers to issue tickets for minor federal offences. When fully implemented in 2005, the simplified procedure will give police a better enforcement tool for over 2,000 federal offences, including offences relating to marine navigation, shipping, trade, the environment and parks and wildlife.
• Contributed to amendments to the provincial Motor Vehicle Act that address treatment and rehabilitation for drivers identified to have substance abuse problems. Contributed to the development of proposed federal legislation to combat drug-impaired driving.
• Negotiated a joint venture (Integrated Market Enforcement Teams) with the federal prosecution service to help protect Canada's capital markets from nationally significant fraud.
• Funded an Organized Crime Unit (OCU) led by senior provincial prosecutors working with federal prosecutors and police. The OCU began processing organized crime cases in spring of 2005.
• Set new fee regulations under the Jury Act to recognize the financial impact to those who sit on juries.
• Brought the Safe Streets Act and the Trespass Amendment Act, 2004 into force as part of government's strategy to make city streets safer and increase support for local communities.
• Continued participation in the pilot Drug Treatment Court in Vancouver.

 
Civil and Administrative Justice System Reform

• Amended legislation to modernize the province's civil justice system, increase access and make the cost to litigants more proportional to the amounts in dispute. The following reforms will become effective September 1, 2005.
• The monetary jurisdiction of the Provincial Small Claims Court will increase from $10,000 to $25,000, increasing access to simpler, faster and less costly processes.
• The Notice to Mediate process will be made available provincewide for Small Claims cases between $10,000 and $25,000. This early settlement process enables one party to require the other parties to attend a mediation session.
• Supreme Court processes for claims valued at $100,000 or less will be streamlined through the new Expedited Litigation Project Rule (Rule 68). Rule 68 will be piloted for two years in the Vancouver Law Courts, Victoria, Prince George and Nelson registries.
• Through an amendment to the Crown Proceeding Act, litigants will be able to sue the government in Small Claims Court as opposed to Supreme Court, which was time-consuming and costly.
• Through amendments to the Evidence Act, electronic documents and signatures will be admissible to court, furthering the development of electronic court case management.
• Amended the Class Proceedings Act to streamline class proceedings and eliminate the need for individuals to file separate lawsuits only to preserve their right to sue while an application for class certification is in progress.
• Improved the administration and governance of legal aid by:
• budgeting an additional $4.6 million for the Legal Services Society effective in 2005/06 to broaden the range of family services for low income families, support families in crisis and help self-represented litigants find lasting solutions to legal problems;
• budgeting $0.8 million to the Legal Services Society for immigration and refugee legal aid;
• budgeting $0.6 million to the Legal Services Society for legal aid costs associated with increased provincial policing; and
• reshaping the governance structure of the Legal Services Society, enabling the organization to develop new approaches to delivering legal aid. The Society is now recognized as having one of the most innovative legal aid programs in North America.
• In collaboration with the Ministry of Children and Family Development, expanded child protection mediation, which has reduced the time it takes to resolve cases and the time children spend in care when cases are returned to mediation.
• Amended the Family Relations Act to authorize a pilot to update child support orders by recalculating child support payments on a regular basis. This initiative is intended to provide more timely benefits to children when there is a change in the payer's income. Should a payer's income decrease, payments can be adjusted, thereby reducing the number of orders that fall into arrears.
• Developed a plan to expand the process for adjudicating minor bylaw disputes at the municipal level, which removes such disputes from the court system and accelerates resolution time.
• Amended the Expropriation Act to transfer jurisdiction over expropriation compensation proceedings from the Expropriation Compensation Board to the Supreme Court, effective March 18, 2005. This change will streamline proceedings, avoid duplications and reduce delays.
• Continued implementing the Administrative Tribunals Act, which allows administrative tribunals to operate more openly, more effectively and with greater access to the persons they serve. Developed model documents, including practice directives, to inform the public of clear and reasonable timeframes for resolving issues.

Private Law Reform

• Amended the Estate Administration Act (part of the Statutes Amendment Act), to increase the value of small estates from $10,000 to $25,000 and streamline procedures for the administrators of small estates.
• Amended the Libel and Slander Act (part of the Statutes Amendment Act) to maintain the balance between the protection of personal reputation and the protection of free expression.
• Introduced the Charitable Purposes Preservation Act, which will allow a donation to a charity for a specific purpose to be used exclusively for that purpose. The Act will also prevent charities from using specific donations to satisfy unrelated debts or other liabilities.

Justice System Infrastructure Reform

• Implemented the Court Services Online electronic search service, allowing individuals in the justice community and members of the public to access civil case information from their own computers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
• Improved the JUSTIN electronic integrated justice information network by implementing an interface between JUSTIN and PRIME, a police records management system. The interface allows for a single point of entry for police records data to JUSTIN.
• Piloted an electronic Litigation Management System to streamline prosecution processes such as disclosure, case preparation and evidence presentation.
• Made courthouses safer for court users by strengthening the security standards for facilities and implementing a threat assessment network that links into the Sheriffs' Protective Intelligence Program.
• Raised sheriffs' training standards and implemented advanced training for high security/high profile trials.