Clerk shortage becoming too heavy for provincial court scales of justice Staff vital for properly functioning system leaving in droves, leading to ‘profound’ problem of frequent hearing delays, chief judge says By: Erik Pindera and Carol Sanders Posted: 6:45 PM CST Friday, Jan. 26, 2024

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A clerk shortage in Manitoba’s provincial court system is beginning to cause delays in proceedings in Winnipeg, raising concerns about the administration of justice.

If nothing is done to address the situation — which has been compounded with experienced provincial court clerks leaving for less-stressful and better-paying jobs elsewhere and the length of time required to hire and train new employees — the courts will stop working, people involved in the justice system warn.

“The justice system will shut down,” said defence lawyer Scott Newman. “If you don’t have clerks, you can’t function.”

Court proceedings are run by clerks, who have knowledge of legislation and the law and maintain order in courtrooms, handle dockets and complex documents, keep the record, administer oaths and perform other integral administrative duties.

On Friday, provincial court Chief Judge Ryan Rolston said the court has been operating with a reduced complement of clerks, sheriff’s officers and other staff for “quite some time.”

“The problem isn’t new, but I would say that it’s been mounting,” Rolston told the Free Press. “The problem has become more profound in the last couple of months.”

He said judges have been working with the courts executive and justice minister’s office in an attempt to find both short- and long-term solutions.

Newman had a hearing for a youth client delayed by nearly an hour this week — something that is happening more frequently, according to others in the system.

Provincial court Associate Chief Judge Lee Ann Martin apologized at the beginning of the Thursday hearing, saying the court is “seriously under-resourced and it’s causing significant constraints on the criminal justice system.”

In Newman’s case, the judge was able to sit later than scheduled Thursday to get the matter completed, resulting in his client being released from custody, but he said such delays can have serious ripple effects.

“The justice system will shut down … If you don’t have clerks, you can’t function.”–Defence lawyer Scott Newman

“Certainly, these kinds of delays imperil the ability to get people out of custody who don’t necessarily need to be there, and we turn courthouse delays into jailhouse delays and we pass the costs onto corrections,” he said, adding that delays have a knock-on effect on other pending matters.

Newman and other lawyers said they heard there were just five clerks working at the Winnipeg Law Courts Thursday. Multiple other defence lawyers who practise in the city told the Free Press the lack of clerks is coming to a head, though it has long been an issue in northern Manitoba and circuit courts.

The full complement, said Rolston, is meant to be 46 full-time and three part-time staff among the provincial and King’s Bench courts in Winnipeg. There are currently 14 vacancies.

The job exposes them to graphic evidence — such as videos and descriptions of child sexual abuse and homicides — with little notice, said one clerk, who added that counselling became available for staff only in the past couple of years.

That individual, speaking on the condition of anonymity, as they are not authorized to speak publicly, said about 25 clerks have left the job in the past year.

“We’re losing half our staff in about a year, which means you don’t have trained staff, you don’t have senior staff who are able to pick up stuff when it gets worse,” the clerk said.

“We’re losing half our staff in about a year, which means you don’t have trained staff, you don’t have senior staff who are able to pick up stuff when it gets worse.”–Provincial court clerk

“Proper access to justice relies on everyone having the support and resources, and especially now, the financial stability to be able to do their job, and that has been denied to court staff, in general, over and over and over again.”

The clerk said staffers are stretched thin, with many feeling burned out and run off their feet; three are currently on stress leave.

Judges and management are supportive and aware of the issues and are working on it, the clerk said.

“But every kind of opportunity they have to build better retention, train better staff, have decent pay for us, has been essentially shot down.”

Rolston said there’s a need to hire additional clerks and sheriff officers, who handle security matters in courtrooms and are responsible for escorting, guarding, transporting and controlling accused who are in custody.

Seven clerks are in the process of being hired right now, he said.

“Once they get hired, they still have to be trained to do their job, so we’ve got a problem that probably will continue for the next several months,” he said, adding it’s important for the court to determine how to retain clerks, Rolston said.

In a statement, a provincial government spokesperson said the Justice Department and Public Service Commission have “significantly increased efforts to recruit, hire and train employees to ensure the needs of the court are met.

“In addition, a recruitment and retention strategy is in development that is focused primarily on positions that support the provincial court.”

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe pointed to the upcoming seven hires as helping to ease the strain on the system.

The clerks aren’t being paid properly for the stressful work, said Newman, who added there are other jobs clerks can do inside the justice system instead.

Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Kyle Ross said clerks raised the issue of staffing issues a year ago.

“They were very concerned about the ability to deliver the service…. People are trying to do more with less,” Ross said Friday.

Voting on a new collective agreement by the union’s 11,500 civil service members — including provincial court clerks — wraps up Monday, Ross said. The deal provides wage increases and other benefits.

Ross put the blame for the shortage on the previous Progressive Conservative government “refusing to hire,” and said the NDP administration needs to “rebuild the civil service.”

Wiebe also seemed hopeful the new deal may help with retention, but said the depletion of the ranks is one of the issues his government inherited from the Tories, who swept into power in 2016 promising to shrink the civil service and to lower taxes.

PC justice critic Wayne Balcaen (Brandon West) said in a statement that the Tories made “historic investments to staff up the justice system and tackle violent crime on Manitoba streets,” and that “time will tell whether the NDP will continue this trajectory or make cuts to pay for their election promises.”

Defence lawyer Kathy Bueti said the problem grinds the system to a halt.

“For the clerks, it’s nerve-racking because they go from one courtroom — and they have to do all the paperwork there — then they have to shift gears and jump into something else,” she said, adding that delays are hard on vulnerable witnesses and accused.

Bueti said if the delays worsen, there’s a potential of cases being dropped due to legal principles dictating that trials be held within a reasonable time frame.

Defence lawyer Zilla Jones said that she’s concerned stress on the system has the potential to railroad people accused of crimes into making plea bargains, rather than having their charges heard.

The Justice Department planned to hire eight full-time employees for its entire Manitoba court operations this year, budget documents show.

In 2023-24, court operations — which provides clerks, exhibit control, trial and motion co-ordination, administrative support for pre- and post-court activities, records management, collecting and processing of fines, trusts, restitution and bail monies — had a $16-million budget, a $1.5 million bump over 2022-23, and 226.5 employees.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca