The long wait - trials on hold due to lack of judges

We had the pleasure recently of appearing for the first time before Mr. Justice Harvey, a former colleague from the New Westminster bar, who was recently appointed to the Supreme Court. Justice Harvey is one of a handful of appointments made recently by the Federal Minister of Justice, which includes the appointments of Justices Garson, Greyell, Hyslop and Schultes in British Columbia.

These welcome appointments still leave the BC Supreme Court bench under strength, and the strain is

starting to show, with cancelled chambers sittings, and trials being bumped. Another recent foray into the law courts in Vancouver this month found my trial being bumped back for over a year, to the dismay of all concerned.

The full complement for the court is 88 judges, and many would argue that additional appointments are necessary in order to keep pace with the growth of the population, yet presently we have only 81 sitting judges. Some observers feel that appointments are not being made because BC has failed to appoint an Independent Judicial Review committee, while other commentators note that fewer and fewer judges are electing to remain on the bench in a "supernumerary" (i.e. part-time) capacity once they are eligible for retirement. Whatever the cause, let's hope to see some more appointments soon.