Whereas British Columbia currently has the highest thresholdcharge approval standard in Canada in proceeding with charges and criminal prosecution of gangsters while communities across British Columbias lower mainland have concurrently seen a year over year rise in gang-related homicide and violence; And whereas ongoing court delays favour the rights of the accused over the rights of victims andor the community; And whereas the Government of Canada committed 328-million over 5 years beginning in 2018, and 100-million annually thereafter to tackle the increase in gun related violence and gang activity in Canada as well as 43 million annually in the National Crime Prevention Strategy to develop cost-effective ways to prevent crime among at-risk populations and vulnerable communities: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that, in support of addressing the ongoing gang violence across BC, the Province of BC and BCs Attorney General and Minister of Public Safety immediately begin working with the Government of Canada to take steps to explore initiatives to address issues within the British Columbia justice system including BCs restrictive charge approval standards, the ongoing high volume of court delays as well as measures to address community safety in support of the rights of all Canadians to live in safe communities.
Ministry of Attorney General Charge Assessment guidelines applied by Crown Counsel in the exercise of their prosecutorial discretion are the subject of longstanding policy and are available online at: www.gov.bc.cacharge-assessment-guidelines. Before approving any charge, Crown Counsel must consider the presumption of innocence, the prosecutions burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and the prosecutors fundamental obligation to act as a minister of justice, and see justice done. When police in BC conclude an investigation, they have the discretion to submit a Report to Crown Counsel RCC to the BC Protective Service BCPS for Crown Counsel to determine if the charge assessment standard is met. If charges are approved, a prosecution is initiated. Crown Counsel impartially assess the RCC that is brought to them, carefully balancing all relevant factors in light of the available evidence, the governing Criminal Code provisions as informed by relevant case law, and their assessment of the public interest, as agents for the Attorney General of British Columbia. Crown Counsel are obliged to fairly, independently, and objectively examine the available evidence in each case in order to determine if there is a substantial likelihood of conviction. If so, then they must go on to determine whether the public interest requires a prosecution by considering the particular circumstances of each case and the legitimate concerns of the local community. Application of this two-part test continues to apply throughout the prosecution and is the only determinant of whether a matter proceeds through to a trial. In exceptional circumstances, where the relevant public interest factors weigh so heavily in favour of a prosecution that it is necessary to resort to a lower charge assessment standard in order to maintain public confidence in the administration of criminal justice, a charge may still be approved even though the usual evidentiary test is not met. Under such circumstances, the minimum evidentiary standard, which continues to apply throughout the prosecution, is whether there is a reasonable prospect of conviction. An example of where this exceptional evidentiary test might be applied is in cases of significant risk to public safety, such as offences of extreme violence, involving firearms and criminal gangs. In 2012, as part of a broader justice system review, retired Alberta prosecutor Gary McCuaig QC was engaged by the BC Ministry of Attorney General to conduct an independent review of the process and standard of charge assessment in BC Mr. McCuaig consulted widely in the development of his recommendations, including with RCMP and municipal police agencies. Mr. McCuaigs report recommended that the usual standard of substantial likelihood of conviction should be retained as part of the BCPS charge assessment regime; the report is available online. Further, requests for changes to federal legislation, including the Criminal Code, should be addressed to The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, 284 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8, Email: mcujustice.gc.ca The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General has created a multi-pronged, gang strategy that recognizes the importance of prevention, intervention and enforcement as critical pieces to eradicating gun and gang violence in our communities, as well as the intricate and interconnected landscape of gun and gang violence in BC. Leveraging Provincial and Federal funding, significant investments are being made across the Justice and Public Safety sectors to address community safety and to build on prior investments. The strategy demonstrates a continued commitment to strengthen provincial capabilities to address gang violence through focused and sustained initiatives over several years to reduce illegal guns and gangs and to enhance community safety. Government is committed to reducing delays and improving the timeliness of matters coming before the courts. Government aims to make improvements and reduce delays and is continuing to make significant progress in this area with some of our program enhancements and technology innovations. In the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley area, the average time to trial for general criminal matters is between 5-8 months depending on the number of hearing days allocated to the trial, which is well within the timeframe set out in the Jordan decision. Detailed statistics are available upon request. Government has been diligent in monitoring stays due to systemic delay. The number of successful Jordan judicial stay applications in the last three years have been very small in comparison to the number of criminal cases prosecuted in BC courts, with an average of less than 20 judicial stays compared to 70,000 disposed criminal cases per annum.