Backlogs blamed for 400% increase in stayed criminal charges in N.B.

The number of criminal charges stayed in New Brunswick rose more than 400 per cent last year, and early reports suggest similar delays will show up in this year's tally because of shortages in the legal profession.

Shara Munn, president of the New Brunswick Crown Prosecutors Association, said shortages across the board, including for Crown prosecutors, have caused a backlog in the court system and pushed cases out beyond what's considered a reasonable time, she said.

Trials must be heard within 18 months of charges being laid for provincial court, 30 months for higher courts, according to the 2016 Supreme Court of Canada's Jordan decision.

The ruling was intended to ensure people who are charged criminally are tried within a reasonable time, but Munn said it's also having the unintended consequence of increasing the number of charges being stayed, dismissed or withdrawn. 

Staying charges halts the prosecution, but the charges could be revisited within a year

The number of cases in New Brunswick that were stayed because of delays jumped from eight in 2022 to 26 in 2023, Munn said. As for individual charges within a case, the number stayed climbed to 80 from 14 last year.

Munn said the entire system has been stretched too thin. Serious, indictable offences are supposed to take priority, she said, but even those are now being stayed.

In December, two men in Moncton accused of trying to set up a network aimed at sexually extorting youth had almost all of their combined 21 charges stayed.

The charges against Jean-Michel Gouin and Ketiboua Kesse included extortion, fraud, money laundering and possession of property obtained by crime. Gouin faced 19 charges on his own, alleging he forced a dozen people to pay amounts that at times exceeded $5,000 in a series of incidents.

"Any crime where the victim is a child is going to be considered a serious crime," Munn said. "And that's certainly what extortion rings are targeting."

It's frustrating for all parties involved, Munn said, including the police who have put in the effort of investigating, and the prosecution's office "who would have spent hours and hours pouring over those files." 

"And so all of that now was just for nothing," she said. "There is a direct impact on public safety. There is a direct impact on the confidence of the public in the administration of justice."

No one from the Department of Justice was available for an interview, but a statement was provided on behalf of Justice Minister Robert McKee instead.

"We are committed to addressing trial delays and creating efficiencies throughout the court system in New Brunswick," he is quoted as saying.