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Law Requires More Common Sense

RCMP independence and jury-trial reform should be federal priorities.

Rafe Mair 22 May 2006TheTyee.ca

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Do feds care about Pickton jurors?

There are two things the federal government must do, pronto.

Under the Liberals, the RCMP Commissioner -- the person to whom all RCMP, whether federal, provincial or municipal, ultimately report -- was politicized. The Commissioner used to be a public servant, not responsible to any minister.

But Jean Chrétien, who wanted to control everything, decided that the Commissioner would be made a deputy minister answerable to the Solicitor-General. The Solicitor-General is appointed by and effectively answerable to the Prime Minister. In short, the RCMP Commissioner's office is now a political one.

When there is an RCMP investigation into the affairs of senior government ministers -- including then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the Solicitor-General himself -- the RCMP must not only act independently, it must appear to do so. The RCMP lost considerable prestige and credibility under the Chrétien government, and this must be restored (although the way the new Prime Minister is acting, he may end up matching Chrétien's arrogance step by step).

The taxing trial

The federal government has another very hot potato indeed -- the Robert Pickton trial, where, I'm told, there are some 15 to 20 lawyers involved, all paid by me and thee, the taxpayers.

This is one more issue the government should but likely won't face.

The first problem is the right to a jury trial, a right all of us have in capital cases. But how do you get jurors able and willing to give up two years of their lives, no matter what you pay them (and that won't be much)? What about their jobs? Their families? Their personal lives?

The only way a jury trial can be avoided, apart from getting all the lawyers for the defence to agree -- which they won't -- is for Parliament to pass a special piece of legislation, declaring that Regina v. Pickton be tried by judge alone, and have the jam to pass it "notwithstanding" the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It's not as if this would deny Pickton justice, for that would be to say that a judge sitting alone is not competent.

Would such a law run counter to the Charter, the rights which are subject to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society?

Is it not reasonable to assume that, if the matter were submitted to the Supreme Court, the court would rule on balance that it's appropriate, given the trial's length, for Parliament to ensure the case is heard by a judge alone?

Could it not be argued that it's impossible for a jury to deal with the mountains of evidence they will hear? Could it not be said, on Pickton's behalf, that it would be in his favour, that a judge would better understand and give appropriate weight to the masses of evidence before him, and be better able to ensure the presumption of innocence Pickton is entitled to?

Lawyers plead justice, get rich

One of the reasons Parliament must act is because these lawyers, all paid by the day, are on a gravy train that ensures that any of them not now rich, will be. It must be said, unpleasant as it is to do so, that the longer the trial goes on, the more the lawyers get. Lawyers won't admit this, but swift justice is not in their interest.

Lawyers always bellow like stuck pigs when this sort of thing is suggested. Too bad. Lawyers, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, are human beings subject to human frailties, one of which is the desire to make as much money as possible. Every word uttered is money in the wallet of each lawyer in the courtroom. They would all say that both the Crown and accused are entitled to the most thorough examination of every jog of evidence. They would say that with great solemnity, though it's hard to explain how they could do so with a straight face.

I close with this question -- why must we have 20-something charges? Is it not possible for the Crown to select, say, five cases which, in their vast experience, look like certain convictions (unless they screw up, of course, as happened in the Air India)? While it wouldn't reduce the trial by four fifths, it would cut it back considerably. I understand the need for closure for so many victims' families, but surely in a case this large, they would understand.

We know how much our justice system depends upon the Common Law. Shouldn't it, from time to time, also demonstrate common sense?

Rafe Mair writes a Monday column for The Tyee. His website is www.rafeonline.com.

For a related story, see The Jury's Trial.  [Tyee]

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