VANCOUVER - B.C. is moving ahead with changes aimed at increasing access to the justice system, the province announced today.
The new measures, including lower court fees and efforts to limit unwieldy legal processes, are meant to answer criticisms that the court system has stretched beyond the reach of the average citizen.
Starting July 1, 2010, litigants in civil and family cases will be allowed three days of trial before being charged court fees. Additional reforms involve fast-tracking civil trials by limiting some legal processes.
"For too many people, access to the courts has become unaffordable," B.C. Attorney General Mike de Jong said during a press conference today.
A sampling of current B.C. Supreme Court costs:
- Commencing a proceeding: $208
- File statement of defence and counterclaim: $208
- Hearing a trial less than half day: $156
- For the first 5 days: $312 daily
- Each additional day after 5: $416
- Each additional day after 10: $624
In the last decade, the number of trials at the B.C. Supreme Court level has halved, while trials that do go ahead have doubled in length. It's a sign, said former Attorney General Wally Oppal, that elements of the system have become outdated.
"Fewer people are finding our courts accessible to solve their problems," Oppal said. "If that happens, our courts...will have lost the confidence of the public."
But opposition NDP justice critic Leonard Krog said the moves came up short.
"There's no money here this morning for legal services," Krog said.
Irwin Loy reports for 24 Hours Vancouver.
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G West
2 years ago
Mike, Wally
Why is it that the courts have become unaffordable?
Having trouble looking at yourselves in the mirror each morning boys?
While you're at it folks, have a look at what your dear leader, the CEO, thinks about the importance of child poverty.
It's an interesting read:
http://willcocks.blogspot.com/2009/07/child-poverty-meeting-rejected-by.html
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Garth
You are pathetic. First, the article is about court fees, not the red herring you toss out. Second, Courts have never been cheap and access never easy, even under NDP governments. Increasing access to the courts is a good thing. What the piece does not mention is that in order to get the break on court fees, both parties have to agree to mediation first. This step alone will greatly reduce the actual need for court time and is where the money will come from to reduce the fees. Few people going into family court or civil litigation have any idea of what it will cost beforehand. Mediators are very good at explaining this.
bcliberals_suck
2 years ago
Cosmetic changes
Yah, I'm sure all of this will be solace to all of those parents out there who can't get legal aid to help them in family court, even in the most horrific cases. What a joke, this is window dressing and that's being charitable.
Mediation is a solid way to go, but it doesn't solve everything, especially if one party has deeper pockets and can afford a lawyer, or a better one than the other party. They still need to know what they're signing off on.
I don't want to hear a word come out of the formerly Honourable Oppal, he was in for 3 years and didn't do one damn thing. And frankly "our courts...[will] have lost the confidence of the public" under his time in government.
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Well
"Yah, I'm sure all of this will be solace to all of those parents out there who can't get legal aid to help them in family court"
Well, the changes sure won't hurt. There should have always been mandatory mediation in all family law cases. Going to court is a complete waste of everybody's time and money. In my experience mediators are fair and unbiased. The same cannot be said of the courts.
G West
2 years ago
Perhaps do a little more reading
Maybe folks could start with this:
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Changes+creaky+civil+system+leave+lawyers+skeptical/1769912/story.html
G West
2 years ago
Or make a few comparisons
Such as these:
Most of the court costs for jury trials are
unique to BC and are not charged in other provinces, such as the $15,000 fee
for renting a courtroom, a jury trial fee of $25,000 – in essence total trial fees of $40,000 – plus the travel expenses of witnesses.
Nowhere else in Canada is like this by comparison to BC’s $40,000 trial fee, in Ontario trial fees would be $645 and in Alberta $800.
De Jong may want to give the impression he's changing things - he certainly won't address the fact that it was his CEO government that brought them to this pass in the first place.
Wake me when he and the CEO and Wally (who I thought would disappear after losing the election) actually have something important to announce.
Like, for example, that the CEO himself actually cares enough about the tens of thousands of kids in poverty here in the 'best place on earth' that he'll attend a meeting to discuss the problem.
Wilfred Laurier
2 years ago
Garth......
You seem to be awake, Garth, and railing about the same things you always to. But I think you are really making a difference. Do you?