Province adds to prosecutions budget to target illegal guns, organized crime

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This article was published 21/02/2023 (978 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An increase in gun violence is driving a $1.4-million boost to the Manitoba Prosecution Service’s budget, the provincial government says.

The annual funding is expected to create 10 additional positions for prosecutors and support staff, so some Crown attorneys can specialize in prosecuting cases involving firearms and organized crime, officials said Tuesday.

Those positions are also expected to advise police officers during gun-related investigations, aiming to combat a rise in cases involving “ghost guns” and 3D-printed weapons, Manitoba Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen said, adding the budget increase is intended to be permanent.

The new positions include seven postings for Crown attorneys, and senior Crowns from other units are being selected to fill those roles.

“By increasing these resources to combat violent crime in Manitoba, we are ensuring that we are doing what we can to improve the safety of Manitobans and the confidence of the justice system, which is also very important,” Goertzen said at RCMP D Division headquarters in Winnipeg, along with RCMP deputy criminal operations officer Supt. Scott McMurchy and Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth.

Police across the province need to be able to call on Crown prosecutors for their expertise in gun cases, and close collaboration is essential, McMurchy said. “Our officers must be confident that a member of Manitoba Prosecution Services will always be there to review, consult, and successfully prosecute RCMP investigations.”

The dedicated prosecutors will be a “welcome addition” to carry through police work, Smyth said, which has already been successful in using intelligence and enforcement to figure out where Winnipeg’s illegal guns are coming from and get them off the streets.

Many are being smuggled from across the U.S. border, and others end up being used for crime via “straw purchases,” in which a legal buyer trades guns to gangs and criminal organizations, the WPS chief said.

The new prosecutions unit will be involved in a working group with police, and will be working on firearms trafficking and manufacturing cases.

With the funding comes more training for prosecutors and support staff in handling these files, which the justice minister acknowledged are becoming more complex amid chronic staff shortages and complaints of overwork within the prosecution service. Adding more positions, Goertzen said, will make the Crown’s office a more “desirable place to work.”

“I think that in prosecutions, this is the kind of work that will attract individuals, but also, it sends the signal that we understand that the workload is increasing, that it’s complex, that it’s difficult.”

Erika Dolcetti, president of the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys, praised the additional funding, but pointed to chronic problems with recruitment and retention of prosecutors.

To form this new unit, she said, experienced Crown attorneys were taken from other units, including domestic violence and general prosecutions, where they were prosecuting cases such as child abuse, sexual abuse and homicide. Those positions need to be filled, but the prosecution service already has many vacancies.

More than 26 Crown attorneys have left over the past two years, with more vacancies on the horizon as additional prosecutors head to other provinces.

“The problem is, there’s a very limited pool of experienced lawyers who are available either in Manitoba or willing to come to Manitoba,” Dolcetti said.

Crown prosecutors have been without a contract with the provincial government for a year, and the association is in active bargaining.

Meantime, the budget increase is being dismissed by the Opposition as an election-year promise.

“The PCs have spent the last several years picking fights with Crown attorneys while crime rates increased,” said NDP justice critic Nahanni Fontaine. “Now that we’re in an election year, the PCs are desperately trying to cover up the problems they themselves created, but it won’t change Manitobans’ minds.”

Goertzen and Smyth also used Tuesday’s announcement to reiterate calls for bail reform in Canada, saying too many violent offenders are granted bail in the existing system.

Canada’s justice ministers are scheduled to meet March 10 in Ottawa to discuss tougher bail rules.

Goertzen thanked Smyth for adding his voice to the issue.

“It’s one thing for politicians to call for change, and that’s important… but it means more, it means more to me, when the police call for the changes,” the justice minister said.

Goertzen said the ministers meeting will discuss how “bail seems to be almost impossible to prevent,” even for violent offenders.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com