The B.C. Liberal government continues moving forward on its commitment to modernize the justice system.
In 2012, the province released a green paper that identified challenges facing the justice system, such as increasing costs and delays, despite a declining crime rate and stagnant caseload. An independent review of the justice system by Geoffrey Cowper followed, including reviews of legal aid services and B.C.'s charge assessment process.
After the release of Cowper's report last August, A Criminal Justice System for the 21st Century, government released the first of a two-part white paper on justice reform.
Some of government's key actions in 2012 respond to specific recommendations in these reports, while others include measures that were already underway.
Throughout the year, the ministry:
• Appointed nine judges in response to Cowper's recommendations, in addition to the nine judges appointed in February.
• Signed a protocol agreement with the Office of the Chief Judge to work together on two court backlog reduction projects.
• Introduced the new Family Law Act – effective March 18, 2013 – legislation that puts children's interests first and encourages families to solve disputes outside the courtroom.
• Launched a new Justice Access Centre for Victoria – a one-stop citizen-focused centre for legal information and service, anticipated to open mid-2013.
• Expanded the availability of child protection mediators to rural and remote communities to resolve child protection cases.
• Passed legislation that will lead to the formation of an innovative online civil resolution tribunal.
• Increased the number of sheriffs serving British Columbians from 465 to more than 500 – resulting in a 15 per cent increase over the past two years.
• Addressed delays and backlogs in traffic court by passing legislation to create a driving notice review board.
• Launched three justice data dashboards – applications that take raw data and transform it into a visual format, providing a user-friendly way to access information on B.C.'s justice system.
• Created the Independent Investigations Office (IIO), a civilian-led agency, to investigate incidents of death or serious harm involving police.
Building on these actions and others, the provincial government begins the new year maintaining its commitment to reform the justice system.