Exhausted, stressed Crown attorneys leaving Manitoba’s prosecutions branch, advocacy group says

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This article was published 26/10/2022 (1045 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Burnout, unmanageable workloads and stagnant pay are draining the Manitoba justice system of seasoned prosecutors, sending them to greener pastures out of province, the private sector or early retirement, the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys said Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, 17 of the province’s 175 full-time Crown prosecutor positions remained unfilled, said association president Erika Dolcetti. In the past two years, the department has lost 26 prosecutors — 16 of whom left to work for the Crown in another province or switched to the defence bar, Dolcetti said. Of the remaining 10, two were appointed to the bench and eight retired.

“Crown offices across the country are recruiting our Crowns because we are not competitive,” Dolcetti said. “The government is unwilling to do what they need to do and we are losing Crowns at an exponential rate.”

Recent spikes in violent crime in the city are severely taxing the justice system’s ability to cope, Dolcetti said.

“Crowns are doing everything they can… we are at a point where the government has to do something or things are going to fall through the cracks,” she said.

Winnipeg has recorded 43 homicides so far this year. Dolcetti said discussions with police suggest that number is on track to hit a record-shattering 60 by year’s end. In Manitoba, 145 homicide cases are being actively prosecuted, with prosecutors juggling as many as 15 homicide cases at a time, Dolcetti said.

Manitoba Crown attorneys have been without a new contract since March. The previous contract included no increase in staffing levels. Dolcetti said current contract negotiations with the province have been unfruitful.

“We are asking them for a fair offer to retain and recruit Crowns, and that is not happening,” she said.

Many of the Crown attorneys who have left the department are prosecutors with more than 10 years of experience.

“They are all leaving and bringing that experience to other jurisdictions,” Dolcetti said.

“With the high crime rate, Crowns do not have the time or the resources to properly manage their caseloads. The government needs to do something to retain and recruit our senior litigators.”

Well over half of the province’s Crown prosecutors have sought counselling for stress, and at least seven of them are currently on stress leave, Dolcetti said.

“We have a high crime rate (and) a high burnout rate, resulting in stress leave (numbers) I have never seen before,” she said. “We have Crowns who are being advised by medical professionals they should not work due to their high stress level and mental health.”

But at least one recently departed prosecutor said it wasn’t the workload or pay that sent them packing, it was the “toxic” work culture. Of eight fellow lawyers who left the department, not one left because of the workload, the lawyer said.

“It was all environment,” the lawyer said. “People are leaving because of the culture, not because of the workload.”

Another lawyer cited workload issues, lack of administrative supports, the loss of prosecutorial discretion and an “in group” culture that dictated who did and didn’t get promoted as the primary reasons they left the department.

“Right now, people are leaving in droves,” the lawyer said. “I would have stayed a prosecutor my entire career… but my mental state was more important and I had to get out of there.”

A government spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment Wednesday.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca