Canada

What’s behind Canada’s critical shortage of judges?

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In today’s Big Story Podcast, every criminal case that comes to trial needs a judge. But in Canada, not every case gets one. Recent years have seen a severe and growing shortage of judges across many levels of the justice system — in some cases this means cases that have waited years for a trial must be thrown out.

Not only does this mean people accused of serious crimes simply walk free, it means that potentially innocent people are spending years waiting for a trial that never comes. 

Jacques Gallant is a courts and legal affairs reporter for The Toronto Star.  The issue of the lack of judges is a long-standing problem, said Gallant. “There are about 73 judicial vacancies right now across the country. That’s a pretty high number.” 

So, how did we end up in this mess? Why hasn’t the government appointed more judges? How many more cases will be tossed in the meantime?

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.

You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.

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