The lawyer hired by the BC government to overhaul this province’s justice system has released his second interim report, and it finds time delays are hurting the system the most.
Geoffrey Cowper says many problems could be resolved by simply ensuring accused criminals have quick access to the courts.
“The fight between types of cases for judicial time and otherwise, if everybody gets a reasonably timely trial date, a lot of the other problems fall away, so what we’re focussing on is how would we get there?”
Cowper was appointed chair of the justice reform initiative in February and he has until the end of next month to report his findings.
He’s already interviewed more than 100 stakeholders and members of the public, as well as reviewing the justice systems of Alberta, Manitoba, Australia and the United Kingdom.