Canada's backlogged civil and family courts in 'crisis,' according to lawyers group

Bringing civil and family cases to Canadian courts has reached a crisis point due to years of delays, according to a lawyers group dedicated to access to justice issues.

The Toronto-based Advocates Society says the worst delays are in Ontario, where litigants can expect to wait up to five years to have a dispute settled by a judge. 

The society recently published a 19-page call to action that describes a clogged court system where delays are "endemic." It says the glacial pace of proceedings threatens the safety, livelihoods and access to justice for thousands of people waiting for their disputes to be heard. 

Most of all, the paper warns, the gridlock risks damaging the rule of law, undermining public confidence in the courts and, if allowed to continue, could create a two-tiered justice system where litigants with the deepest pockets can access speedy resolutions through private arbitration while others are forced to wait. 

Unlike the criminal courts, which the Supreme Court ruled must bring an accused to trial within 18 to 30 months of being charged, there is no prescribed limit on how long civil and family matters can take.

"We're approaching a breaking point," said Advocates Society president Dominique Hussey, a Toronto intellectual property litigator and managing partner with Bennett Jones. 

"We are hearing so many stories about clients not being able to achieve justice in a timely way that it was clear to us that it is truly becoming a crisis."

The roots of the crisis first took hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the entire justice system was upended for months as courts sat idle during sweeping lockdowns under public health mandates.

Since then, the delays have worsened, with courts stymied, including by a lack of staff and judges. There were 79 federally appointed vacancies in Superior Courts and Courts of Appeal across Canada as of June 1, according to the paper.

Hussey said the dearth of qualified personnel to oversee cases doesn't just imperil the right to a speedy trial, but in some cases, it also keeps spouses trapped in abusive relationships they're trying to escape. 

"You can imagine a person would feel completely trapped and, not only that, feel betrayed by a justice system," she said.

Hussey added that emotionally draining proceedings can distract people from their jobs and families for years, "to say nothing about personal exposure to a physical harm and mental harm." 

The delays are so pervasive that they've infiltrated courtrooms at every level in every jurisdiction of the country, she said, with Canada's most populous provinces — including B.C., Alberta, Quebec and Ontario — experiencing the worst delays.

"It's affecting the lives of real people," said Andrew C. Murray, a personal injury lawyer and partner with Lerners LLP in London, Ont. "The system is slowly grinding to a halt."